Feral Beasts (JxG classic NSFW)

 Written & reposted here with permission from my Co-author RoseGoldFox on Ao3. We've known each other for 20+ years and it's taken me a while to convince her to write with me, play D&D (The Yamikora stuff here & Eberron: Oracle of War stuff was all done with her in bits and peices) so yeah it was super fun and hopefully we get to do more in future!

Original posting: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37381504

Feral Beasts

Gordon made all the pre-flight checks and flicked on the console to establish communications with Thunderbird Five. He offered to do the fortnightly supply run this week due to the last mission he went on left him on inactive duty. Sure, Dad would have rather he stayed home and sent Alan instead but Gordon was getting a little bored around the house. 

Occasionally he'd reach up and touch the bandage around his left shoulder under his blue uniform. It hurt like blazes but it wasn't going to stop him going up to visit his immediate younger brother in space. At least John talking to him about the newest star system or something he discovered with Thursday Five's huge telescope was more interesting than Alan's latest DAKAR Rally trophy. 

Virgil said it was a vicious dog that attacked him when they rescued those people from that collapsed mine in the Russian wilds but after seeing the damage even he wasn't entirely sure. It also didn't help that he fell further into the mineshaft but accidents came with the territory.  

Least he didn’t end up permanently in the Island medical bay THIS time.

Once the communications link was established, Gordon spoke to the monitor that lit up with a holographic visual of his younger brother John.

"This is Thunderbird Three to Thunderbird Five, we're about to deliver care packages - one of which is one of Grandma's trademark ugly Christmas sweaters since you won't be staying with us this year. ETA two hours."

"Copy that Thunderbird Three, and don't be too concerned with all the packages making it" John answers trying to keep a straight face. "How are you doing Gordon? I hear you got into a fight with a dog?" Changing subjects trying to continue being all serious.

"That was no dog, John." Gordon rubbed his shoulder again absently then made a few hand signals that only John could see in the holographic visual. He was saying that their dad was still on the other line and that he couldn't voice his real opinion on how the last disaster of a rescue went. "Anyway we're ready for launch, see you in a bit."

He closed the holographic link and checked the radio only channel. " Thunderbird Three to Tracy Island, requesting countdown for launch."

The voice of Jeff Tracy - their father - echoed through the radio. "FAB Three you're clear to launch. Remember you have that new communications array to help John install, Brain's estimates it'll take at least a week to get it operational. "

"FAB Tracy Island."

That means no mucking around… well sort of. Gordon and John usually got Thunderbird Five's systems upgrades done faster than Brain's estimates giving them enough time to catch up with one another.  Not that alot happened living on an island in the middle of the ocean unless something dangerous cropped up and they needed someone short enough to squeeze into some incredibly small space. Sometimes being the shortest sucked.

Two hours' travel wasn’t much considering how high an orbit Thunderbirds Five had to maintain as it travelled around the planet but it had to be to keep out of reach of all the space junk and other stations that floated around the Earth, though sometimes Gordon wished it was shorter. He hadn't seen John properly in two months and the possibility of loading up a movie on the holotable in the main living quarters just to sit around in between working on the station sounded ideal, especially with John cuddled in his arms. 

Of course there were 'other' activities they would do but Gordon didn't mind the quieter ones he couldn’t enjoy with John when they both got time together at home which was getting fewer and further between with Alan and TinTin's wedding coming up. 

Preparing to dock Three with Five wasn’t the easiest task but Gordon managed it without scratching any paintwork. Spaceships were the last thing he expected to fly but they all had to learn to operate all crafts just incase someone else couldn't. It made sense really but Gordon never felt at home here. It was weird, floaty once gravity outside the station was non-existent when fixing something external….it wasn’t the same as being under water. Something to do with pressure, he was sure of it.

He smirked as he waited for the pressure to sync up in the loading dock, always finding it amusing how in order to dock with Thunderbird Five the only thing Brain's came up with was 'long shaft like machine slots into hole like entrance'. He often wondered if Brains was really deprived of physical contact or honesty and didn't understand how dirty the human mind was.

He flicked on the holo-channel and announced that docking was completely before getting out of the cockpit seat and making is way to the cargo hold. Some of it was stuff to go inside and would be easier to unload from the outer later on.

He winced as the last box was taken onboard, serious pain shooting from his shoulder causing him to drop it unceremoniously on his foot, yelping aloud. Something inside the box rattled making Gordon frown hoping he hadn't broken whatever component it was. He leaned against the wall, hoping the stabbing sensation would die down.

Hearing a crash and his brother cry of pain, John was on his feet in an instant "Gordon!" He calls concerned and when getting no answer he races to the docking post, where he sees Gordon leading against the wall in obvious pain. "Gordon, are you ok? What happened?" 

"Just dropped the box. That's all." Gordon hissed through clenched teeth. He reached up again to his right shoulder and let out a small whimper as touching it felt like it was on fire. "Ok, Scratch that John… shoulder is flaring up pretty bad. Got any pain killers?"

It wasn’t exactly the way he planned on greeting his younger brother in over two months but right now it didn't matter. If he didn't sort it out fast before dad contacted to confirm his arrival he knew he'd instantly be made to return home and spend more time in the medical bay. He didn’t want that… not when he was wanting to spend quality time with John alone for the first time in what felt like forever.

Especially because unlike other times he visited, he was getting to stay a bit longer.

Living on an isolated island without contact from the outside world was tough but even tougher when everyone else around you dictated what you could and couldn't do. Either way in Gordon’s case International Rescue or not he was more or less trapped there after the accident that ended his WASP career.  Sure he could have gone back but their father wasn't having any of it.

Funny, he had more near death experiences with his dad's rescue outfit than he ever did in the Security Patrol.

This isolation, while ok in terms of keeping his billionaire sons out of the limelight though not a terrible idea, was slightly detrimental to their relationships with people from the outside. Clearly Alan was a success story with him getting engaged but as for the rest of them? 

Gordon couldn't keep up with the parties and the night clubs the older two frequently went to on their off time. Sure they were fun but picking up random strangers for the night wasn't his idea of a good time.

It wasn’t as if he intended for things to change between him and John either. His sibling was just as lonely and a prisoner to these choices as he was. But after every disaster John was always desperate for information on what happened thanks to dad cutting communication off to him if stuff got messy and Gordon was only far to happy to have someone to talk to even if it was just to get his head straight after dealing with something horrific. Eventually things got alot more personal than that to the point when John got his first break off the station when the others were at some charity event, Gordon took it that one step further. He shouldn't have but John didn’t say no to it either.

Well that's not entirely true. John was the one who started it… Gordon just made it reality.

Luckily, no one at home remotely cared, at least about them much. If they found out though...

He winced as more pain shot through his whole arm, forcing him to clench his teeth. "Really strong ones, John." He found himself saying to his brother before more stabbed sharply through his system.  What the hell? He'd never had an injury that kept giving him more pain days later from it that was worse than the original mistake that made it.

"Hold on Gordon we'll get you fixed up." John knew as well as him they had to sort this fast if they had any chance of Gordon staying, after so long of being separated to not be held in his arms, breathing in his scent that had long faded from that shirt he left behind.

He'd been counting the hours until they were reunited and wasn't about to let go so easily now.

He helped Gordon now to the med bay, laying him down on one of the beds before going to find a hypospray. "This will work a lot quicker." Though he would use a lower dose, knocking him out cold was the last thing he wanted to do.

Gordon hissed as he shifted his shirt over his head to give John a better look at the bandaged injury. It had been more than just a savage bite. Other fresh deeply made cuts were down his arm and his collar that weren’t properly bandaged, revealing whatever had attacked him in Russia wasn't just some savage house pet. His body was typically a large network of scars that made it hard to tell what was new or old anyway but somehow John knew which ones they were.

Before John could touch it, Gordon grabbed John's own shirt of his uniform and pulled him close to kiss him. "Forgot to say I missed you." He smirked before another flash of pain washed over.

John completely melted under his kiss "I'd love to show you just how much I have." he can't help smiling despite what's happening, he puts the hypospray to Gordon's neck. "It's completely painless, It will kick in in a few moments but bloody hell Gordon that dog did a number on you." By the looks of it, it must have been huge.

"John, I don't think it was a dog as Virgil says it was. But tigers have been extinct in the country for the past decade….no idea what it was. Hard to know anything when you wake up from being unconscious inside Thunderbird Two."

"I'd be more inclined to believe it was a tiger even if they are extinct. Feeling any better though?"

Gordon reached over and kissed John again. "You tell me. I'll report to dad in a few minutes. After that and an extremely tar-like coffee I'm all yours when we're not messing around with the upgrades."

Giving him a kiss of his own, John grinned. "Don't be too long, I'll be waiting." He wasn't even going to ask if he was up to it, he knew how tenacious Gordon was.

"Yeah, like I really want to be stuck on call with dad for several hours." Gordon snorted, carefully standing up. Infact it was at least fifteen minutes before he joined John in the main crew quarters, wrapping his arms around him as his younger brother was making coffees so black you could have swore looked like boot polish. 

Gordon nuzzled him, smiling as he did so. "So, discovered any new star systems since the last time I was here?" His deep voice purred, reaching over to John's mouth to remove the cigarette he had started smoking nervously. "Seriously,  you can be as bad as Alan with those things." He chuckled, putting it out in a nearby ashtray.

John couldn't help being a bit annoyed at him for putting it out, it wasn't as if he could just pop out to the corner store and pick up another pack anytime and it wouldn't be hard for anyone to just cut him off completely either. "Maybe I need more of an incentive to stop, anyway I do love it when you talk celestial bodies." indicates for Gordon to follow, they head to where the station's telescope is housed, he spends a few minutes adjusting it as the orbit had changed. "Take a look."

Gordon looked through the telescope lens and asked, "I know a little about stars navigation wise but I still have no idea what I'm looking at here, John. It's definitely not the Quazar you discovered cause I'd have remembered that with all those bright colours like the Aura Australis."

"Ok." John came up behind Gordon and rested his hands on his shoulders so he could whisper in his ear as he showed him where to look.  "Do you see the three stars and the three rings radiating outwards from them? notice how they're not perfectly circular, I believe that's because a planet orbits the three of them, three star galleries are rare but a planet orbiting all three is even rarer, it's like that planet in that old old film." He kissed Gordon's neck, letting him know where his interest really lay and it certainly wasn't in the stars.

"Wow, that's really cool." Gordon didn’t know what else to say, afterall his specialities lay millions of miles below the surface of the ocean back on earth. Words weren't really good for describing things like the enormity and fantastical possibilities of space. He pulled away from the telescope and drank the rest of the really strong coffee before picking John up in his strong arms and lifting the taller Tracy clear of the floor. "Now… before we start any work, is there any other maintenance I need to attend to first?" Gordon chuckled playfully, his voice purring.

John puts his arms around his neck "Only two months worth." he laughs "Unless you want business out of the way, before pleasure?" Saying as he caughers Gordon's lips with his own.

Gordon seemed to consider this a bit, letting his brother raid his mouth in needy exploration. When he was allowed to take a breath the devious grin on his face only got cockier. "You know I'd give you that fine tuning anytime, anywhere Space Cowboy." To prove his point, he pushed John's lithe body against the bulk of the large NASA grade telescope, pulling his brothers legs around him tight so both their groins were against one another as he lavished attention on his porcelain skin unblemished by the sun rays.

"Missed you." Gordon’s voice vibrated against the skin of John's neck as he kissed it like it was something delicate that could break. 

"Oh gods Gordon..." His lips on John's skin sent shivers through him, he had craved his touch so much had dreamed about it. He wanted them to take their time but was having trouble after so long with no contact with another living person it was hard to not get overly excited, especially with it being Gordon. John was sure he could feel just how hard he already was, he ran his fingers through Gordon's hair pulling a little bit, mixing that bit of pain with pleasure. "I've missed you too."

"Playtime is clearly not an option today huh?" Gordon mused hitching John up so he didn’t drop him, a free hand that wasn't trying to support his weight tugging both their trousers just enough to allow some fun and games to begin. "What seems to be the issue?" He joked, knowing full well what John’s answer would be. "I brought the right tools, just direct me where I need to repair."

"There's… a leak and a hole... that needs filling." John laughs at his crude answer. "But seriously sailor you may have the right tools," he said, slipping a hand into Gordon’s pants and under his jewels, long fingers massaging and teasing in turn. "But do you know how to use them?"

Gordon didn’t say anything. He let his body do all the talking and as they became entangled more intimately he watched as John stretched and withered against the metal structure behind him. Sure he could be as gentle as he wanted but it wouldn't have made a lot of difference since everything about the older stocker, shorter Tracy was mostly sleek and trained muscle. Even in areas that usually got ignored, though John sort of learnt that wasn't ever the case.

Gordon growled deeply. "Fuck, you're still damn tight." He let out an amused snort before kissing John hungrily and starting up a slow deliberate rhythm. "Still perfectly snug and warm as ever." He then playfully nipped one of John's ears. "Missed being your service on call."

John inhaled sharply, fingernails digging into Gordon’s shoulders as his body reacclimates to sensations he hasn't felt for sometime but his brother's movement helped him relax into it as feelings more of pleasure took hold. "Ahhhh Gordon! nuuuuh!" Throwing his head back he let his voice ring out through the room, here they could make as much noise as they liked as no one was going to catch them.

The rhythm temporarily went erratic as Gordon started laughing, unable to keep it in with how vocal John was being. "Well it's nice to know someone missed me." He mused, taking a breather to reposition John so they didn't hurt themselves. "Uhh.. damn… the gravity up here really… messes with how we do this." One of his hands struck out against the telescope to keep them both steady as their bodies continued to make music and dance to a colourful tune. Gordon honestly forgot the artificial gravity on Five was alot less dense than back on earth and it had a tendency to play havoc with the human body if you weren't used to it. It's why John always felt so sick back on Earth after long stays in space as the reverse felt like you were being crushed alive. Sadly Gordon knew that feeling quite well too, pressure from going underwater could kill you very quickly if you weren't careful enough.

It wasn’t because of a lack of oxygen but hell it felt like it.

"Uhhh John… can't…. Can't stretch this one...out.. " Gordon’s pace started to move more rapidly, desperation starting to take over before lightheadedness could do him in.

Even with the telescope jarring into his back John keeped up the motion, taking hold of his own member and moving in time with Gordon as they reached their crescendo together, their voices ringing out around them, laughing as they echoed back. John rested his head on Gordon's chest trying to catch his breath. 

"That…was...fuckin... amazing." He managed to huff out. To John it had been like when you were starving for a long time, that when you finally had your first meal it was the best thing you have ever tasted.

Gordon carefully let John down just as pain shot through his shoulder and down into his chest. "Really that bad huh?" He panted. He knew he could go longer and alot harder than that but something was wrong.

Space is supposed to feel colder right? So why was everything so hot?

"Gordon are you alright?" Gordon had gone quite pale suddenly and his pupils had dilated, John cursed himself for not giving him time to adjust to being on the station first before they jumped into any kind of physical activity as he'd been far too happy to just see him. Now he could have put Gordon into a dangerous situation.

"What's wrong? Are you finding it hard to breathe?" He asked, trying his best to keep a level head.

"Never felt like this up here before." Gordon pulled at his shirt. Rarely did he sweat up here, temperature controls that changed on the fly were on board and regularly adjusted every microsecond of air. This however was unbearable.

Removing his sash and his shirt to reveal a fit toned figure with a large wasp tattooed on the left side of his chest took considerable effort, his body completely covered in sweat.  The injury to the right shoulder though….

Injuries don't typically start snaking around the body right? They don't spread after they've been sustained…

However this one had spread out, not just down his right arm but also his back, chest...all down the right hand side. Blood red and spider-like.

"What the fuck?" John steps back in stock. He had never seen anything like this before, it was like a blood infection but was spreading right before his eyes... that wasn't possible no infection could spread so fast.

"Gordon we need to get you to med bay" he said trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He pulled Gordon to feet and his arm over his shoulder; he wasn't strong enough to carry him, he would have to help him walk there.

Gordon took a few steps before collapsing in front of the ladder to go down to the communications deck. He was feverish, breathing was erratic and his pulse was frantic. "Johnny…" his voice caught in his throat. Gordon never called John anything other than his name unless he was terrified, something left over from being the only two close in age and growing up more or less side by side. Right now Gordon was freaking out as everything was burning up like it was on fire.

"Johnny…." He burbled before he blacked out, his temperature skyrocketing and unbearable. 

****

John sat by Gordon's bed in the medbay waiting for him to come too, he had got his temperature down using ice packs.

The infection or whatever the hell it was had stopped just as fast as it started, he had drawn some blood and taken some scans and was just waiting for the computer to finish analysing them.

He really should contact dad and tell him what happened, but he would force them to come home and run a test, if he did their secret relationship would be revealed. 

He didn't know what to do, every moment could be a risk to Gordon's life.

If this was a new unknown strain of rabies every minute pasting counted, if it progressed too far there was no hope.

He lit up another cigarette and took a deep drag.  He had smoked more than half the pack while waiting, looking up at the computer again for the hundredth time as it was still running its analysis.

"Come on..." John cursed at it, he decided that he would make a decision once he got the results.

"Nnnnugh… fffuck."

Gordon winced, bright lights from above the medbay bed shining in his face almost blinding him. He shifted and managed to roll himself off the gurney with a nice meaty thud on the cold steel floor.

"Ow." 

Gordon tried pushing himself up off the floor but it felt cool on his skin so he was more than happy to just lie there. Ok so maybe he shouldn't have flown up and actually listened to Virgil the worry wart and stayed in bed but then it would be another what? Fortnight or with how things seems to be going… another month before he saw his closest sibling? Not on his watch.

Gordon rolled off the bed before John could stop him "Gordon!" Throws his cigarette to the floor before rushing to his side. "Shit are you alright? Please don't knock yourself out after just coming to." Says as he helps Gordon to sit up against the side of the bed.

"It's alright." Gordon looked rather surprised at the sound of his own slurred voice. "Ok, maybe not. You don't have to go all...Virgil on me though." He gave John his signature smirk. "Guess you've had to tell dad by now."

"Not yet," John said, sitting back. "Only considering it, you know what will happen if I do?..."

Gordon frowned. "Besides being locked up in the medical bay at home watching Virgil play nursemaid to keep me from getting out of bed?"

"Not just that, they will find out about us…"

"What? Unless I've managed to get HIV or something they won't." Gordon snorted. "John, I get hurt so damn often it's a running joke. Alan even has a bloody bet going on with Scott and Kyrano to see when the next one will be."

"This isn't some injury Gordon! They will run every damn test on you and me! Whatever this is could be infectious who knows!" John gets up off the floor and heads over to the computer.

"Why do you take so long?!" He fought the temptation to slam his fist down on it, the last thing they needed right now was for him to break it.

Gordon dragged himself off the floor and placed a hand gently on John's shoulder. "Only way they'll find out is if you or I tell them John. If that has to happen I'd want to be there with you...but that's not going to be something you have to worry about." He shuddered as he let out a deep breath. If they did find AIDs or HIV in his system chances are they'd have dismissed it anyway. Gordon had that many operations under his belt that required him to either be given multiple blood transfusions or had been the walking blood bank for his brothers that something like that was a given and at least treatable in 2065.

Besides,  they all knew he had been openly gay since college. He was damned if he was to hide that. They knew what they were signing up for, infact the current joke around them at home was Gordon being TinTin's Bridesmaid and while that wasn't at all true, he had been the only Tracy invited to her hen's party. It had been the most stupid fun he had since saying yes to International Rescue outside of well… the bleeding obvious.

"You worry way too much sometimes John. Bad as Virgil, though he has every reason to when he sends me off into places he's too big to fit, or drops Thunderbird Four into the ocean somewhere and something happens underwater where he can't retrieve me. Sure, you're the one giving us the call out but damn dad's pretty good at making sure you have no idea what actually happens to us at times."

Gordon hoped John got the message. There were times he'd rather have John listening to him hanging on for dear life than their father who once it was all over seemed to act as if he was dead already until the next dire situation cropped up. The one occasion he did so was because he couldn't contact Tracy Island and it was mostly because he was running out of air trapped under a building inside a lift with a news reporter who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. John didn’t panic when rescues were concerned, something he'd rather prefer to... say their father or Scott and Virgil yelling his name at him in a mixture of fear and frustration just for doing something they couldn't have done themselves. 

He wrapped his good arm protectively around John and said quietly, "I'll be alright, promise. Probably some reaction to the drugs they gave me at home. Wouldn't be the first time I've had one." That was true. He was starting to become immune to the painkillers, have seizures from the drugs used to put him under for surgery and a bunch of other 'fun' reactions that were making it very difficult to want to send him on call outs.

When you're the only all rounder who can swim and withstand intense water pressure though there aren't a lot of options available to replace you. Sure Scott was the decorated military sibling out of all of them but only Gordon knew how to disarm explosives since his job at WASP made it essential. Virgil was the engineer who knew all the tech they used and was the indomitable muscle they needed to do the heavy work but he couldn’t get into small spaces when it was too dangerous to move stuff around in case a survivor was trapped. Alan was clever, fast thinking and nimble in reflexes but Gordon was calmer, more professional and only took risks that were necessary, ones that didn't endanger other people. 

Gordon needed all that pressure like a hole in the head. However it also meant his other brothers tended to leave him alone after something had gone horribly wrong. They were the times he called John on the private line and while careful not to give him too many details it let him remove the mask and shut down…. And boy did he fully shut down.

He was many things but not an emotional brick wall. Some days were a real struggle to just keep a smile on his face to hide behind.

John made him feel human. Just talking to him made him feel less like an empty husk, especially if someone they were sent to rescue had died. They worked with other rescuers, especially on things like landslides and earthquakes...places where many people wind up dead leaving few survivors to pull them free.  Those took their toll on him the most and with no one to talk to sometimes it was too easy to get creative on the self torture end of things.

Talking to John honestly helped more than he'd dare to admit to him. It kept him sane, kept him grounded...kept him alive. 

"Please Johnny. Need you to stay calm...you can do that for me." Gordon whispered as he rested his head between John's lithe and delicately structured shoulder blades. "Need...need you…" 

Hearing him call him Johnny, John knew Gordon was just as afraid as him but he had to stay calm and level headed like he always had to be, when everyone else was screaming and letting their fears take hold, he had to come through as cool, calm and collected for them. He couldn't even count how many times any of them wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for him and this was no different, though far harder as he had no idea what he was dealing with. He had to be that rock for him.

"Ok I'm here for you Gordon whatever you need." John said, embracing him tightly, giving him and himself that emotional support they both really needed right now.

Gordon smirked. "If I didn’t already know that, do you think I'd have come all the way up here?"  He reached up to pull John into a kiss before wincing from the pain. "Being hurt has never stopped me coming up to spend time with you." 

"Though having a fever has." He mumbled, rubbing his temples. "Mind if we hold off construction repairs till tomorrow? Don't think I can manage it right now."

"Truth be told we can't do anything till the station moves into the Earth's shadow and out of the rays of the sun which will be…" John looked at his watch. "Wow, is that the time…" he realised he's been awake for almost twenty four hours now, no wonder he felt so tired. "About twelve hours from now" Says while trying to suppress a yawn.

Gordon may not have felt very well but he knew he should be at least taking care of his brother while he was visiting. Afterall it was a rare opportunity for the duty monitor to get breaks in as normally John had to be on the wire twenty-four hours a day, even when he was supposed to be sleeping. The constant chattering from all the radio communications consoles while something you could filter out now and then would eventually do anyone's head in.

He took John by the hand, even though he was shaking and gave it a squeeze. "Movie? At least… for a few minutes. Maybe...maybe we could…" he brushed his lips up against John's, asking for permission to have a little fun while they still both could keep awake - though in his defence he wanted to ride out the fever… but was unsure John would oblige.

Common sense said they should wait for the test results and John should get some much needed sleep. If their time together wasn't so limited they would and with Gordon’s lips on his he was finding it impossible to be sensible, as he pulled Gordon close and kissed him furiously, it was easy to believe he wasn't that unwell if he was still up for it. "Movie first or straight to the climax?" 

"Why not both?" Gordon splayed out John's fingers carefully and started to kiss them, running his tongue along them teasingly. "Though it's your choice as to wanting a ride.. or to dominate." 

"Giving me the choice, huh?" 

"Always, John."

Gordon led John down the small corridor, down the lift and into the main living quarters, only adding to his little game by holding the lift door closed a little longer in order to remove John's shirt and pinning him gently to the wall with his weight while he playfully ran his finger tips over his sides and nuzzled his chest, licking and teasing his nipples. He then cupped John's face and ran his fingers lightly over his fine cheekbones, brown eyes looking guilty of appreciating how gorgeous his brother was. 

Gordon honestly held his immediate younger brother in high regard not just mentally but physically too. In college John pulled all the ladies and some of the guys - twice as many as Scott ever could and he wasn't that bad a looker, both of them getting invited to all the parties and dance clubs because they were so attractive.

Alan and Virgil weren't too far behind in the good looks department either but Gordon knew he was the bottom of the barrel, face completely square, pronounced cheekbones that earned him the nickname of 'Bulldog' when he worked for WASP, the one that was always the wing man - though frankly it wasn't really an issue at least until their father started trying to set them up with a wealthy woman of note. Yeah… those went utterly well.

Gordon always admired how wonderful they all looked, all dressed to the nines with these incredibly beautiful women hanging off their arms, a part of him aware that he wouldn’t get the opportunity to do the same with some incredibly rich handsome man. The only ones like that were his brother's - the rest were all creepy, old or so greasy in personality Gordon knew he wouldn't remotely feel safe around them, most men with money who were into other blokes wanted someone that was kept behind the scullery maid or whatever they deemed the lowest person on the payroll was. He wanted an equal, not be some dirty secret. 

Funny how things turn out.

He paused momentarily, these thoughts always crossed his mind when he was about to commit sins with his brother. It was because he knew it was wrong what they were doing and a part of him was aware that he would one day have to let John go - not by his own choice either. Seriously John was the type of person to have people all over him at a party, it wouldn’t take much for someone one day to catch his eye that was far more deserving of his affection. 

As long as John wanted him though, he was more than happy to be there by his side, just like when they were kids. Always there, two steps behind.

Within the larger space of the living quarters, Gordon allowed John to push back as rough as he liked until the shorter Tracy was leaning against the holotable awaiting John's lead on what he wanted him to do.

Gordon always gave his soul to John, knowing that he would be gentle with it for as long as he wanted to keep it. To have anyone want such a damaged broken thing was beyond him and the fact John did meant the world.

"Strip now." John said, smiling devilishly.

Gordon smirked. "Not a lot left to remove, John. You had me in the medbay in my boxers." Obediently, when John gave him a little room the boxers slid off to the carpeted floor before leaning back again, his chest heaving heavily, sweat sitting lightly on his skin, his body betraying him easily for his brother to see.  His pulse was racing, his eyes looking downwards towards his bare feet, unable to hide his self-consciousness. No uniform to hide behind this time, a rare occasion that didn’t come up as often as John probably liked.

Eventually, his caramel coloured eyes looked up to meet his brother's beautiful ocean blues. Gordon’s silent sign that he was ready for whatever was to come. His breath hitched as John lightly brushed his fingers against his lips, his body shuddered with anticipation and feaverish delight. His brother didn't need 'gear' or 'toys' as it were to make him submissive and his body involuntary beg to be played with. He just had to stare, as if to peruse and drink in the view presented. John's perfectly silent secret lover, something anyone in his presence would want to be, lying at his feet worshipping him the way he deserved.

He closed his eyes as he let his head be held up and lovingly inspected, fingers caressing his jaw and triangular cheek bones. He honestly didn't know what John found of interest there, no one else ever had. He couldn’t prevent himself from visibly twitching after a few minutes, self-consciousness flooding back like a rip tide. 

Gordon didn’t verbally beg. He'd be damned if he was made to. Like John he had very little control over his life but that was one unspoken rule he made sure John was well aware of if he was to surrender himself completely to his brother's desires.

 You had to have some self pride.

John couldn't help the devilish smile that crossed his face, he had to admit he enjoyed having the older Tracy at his mercy.

He observed the fine chiseled features of the bronze god before him and hadn't failed to notice the tan went all the way down.

Gordon twitched and John suddenly had an idea. 

He headed back to the door. "There's something I've always wanted to try, and this might be the only time we can."

Before Gorden could say anything John turned the gravity off in the room. 

Suddenly, everything was starting to float from the coffee cups John had left on the counter to Gordon's boxers. When his feet stopped making contact with the yellow carpet, Gordon gripped the holotable to stop being lifted off the ground altogether. 

"Shi-!" He couldn’t avoid swearing aloud if he tried.  Being weightless wasn't exactly new, he loved the feeling of floating in water and just letting it carry you with the current but this was like free-falling,  something that he had done one time too many thanks to Virgil and rescues from various air crafts at a height of twenty thousand feet.

He shut his eyes tight, feeling like a total idiot forgetting about how easily it was to just shut off the gravity.

John pushed off the wall and floated over to Gordon coming up behind him, wrapping his arms around him and placing his head on his shoulder. Then inhaling his scent, he growls deeply. "You smell so damn good."

When his brother failed to answer, he asked; "Are you angry with me?"

"M-mad?" Gordon regained his grip on the table edge as John grabbing him made them somersault around. "N-not at all!" He refused to open his eyes knowing that if he did so not only would the fear in his voice be more evident than he was letting on but the down right terror in his pupils would have given him away that floating around in his birthday suit was not on his hundered things to do before you die list. 

But that was it wasn’t it? The Tracy family curse? Bunch of carefree daredevils, some more than others. Gordon had relatively shifted his idea of an adrenaline rush in comparison these days,  instead of seeking danger by willingly finding ways to put his own life on the line just for thrills - that was Alan's job in any case - his risky unconventional relationship with John was enough.

Infact that's sort of why he was now floating around for wasn't it?

Bite the bullet, grab the bull by the horns… whatever the hell Scott usually tells him when they drag him along to some stupid charity function…

He took a deep breath, let go of the table and slid from John's grasp, at least long enough to grab the blonde's trousers and yank them off along with his satin shorts so he was in nothing but his bare essentials too. Two can play at this game.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes again thinking about all the breathing exercises he was made to do when training for WASP. He was pretty sure it was the opposite for what you're supposed to do in space but considering both environments could suck your insides out just in different ways. Lean back and float…

Letting himself get used to drifting was the key. Not panicking when you realised your feet aren't touching the ground is another one he wasn't entirely ready for yet. 

Imagine being surrounded by water…. Hopefully that would help right?

John burst out laughing "I'll take that as a yes." he said as he poked a cup that floated towards him, sending it off in another direction.

Personally he loved this feeling of weightlessness he used to enjoy, often reading in zero G but spending too much time without gravity caused mussels to start wasting. That's why he had to do regular physio, the gravity was still weaker on the station so he sometimes had joint pain when back on Earth, not to mention the headaches from how much brighter the sun was.

Gordon had no problem with the lights being low light, being in the deep sea he was use to it.

With a devious grin now on his face he moved back against a wall. "This means war you know." An expert at moving in this environment John easy moved around Gordon dive-bombing him a kiss on any part he could reached.

Gordon waited until he could feel his brother's lips move boldly along his body with random pecks and teasers, smiling as he tried very hard to stay relaxed. Each kiss he could feel lingering longer, playfully as if John knew he had the upper hand.

When those adventures lips moved towards his chest to assault his nipples, Gordon’s arms were quick to wrap around John, pull him close and roll them both into a spin, his fingers tickling his cheeky lover underneath and across his ribs, making him laugh and squirm.

When he was able to move his head close to John's he purred seductively, "Is that all you got? Thought you wanted to really play with me… Space Cowboy. "

"No fair." John laughs trying to grab his hands to make him stop. It reminded him of when they were kids with Gordon pinning him and tickling him until he begged him to stop.

"You're finding this way too easy." finally catching one of Gordon's hands he threads his fingers through them and kisses him.

Returning it in kind, Gordon passionately making sure he kept his lover tongue-tied as he hooked his legs around his waist as his back bumped up against one of walls as John made himself known inside his body, making him arch up and throw his head back into it, revealing his neck for his young lover to explore.

John felt he was relaxed enough in the zero G that he could bring on the main event, it just wasn't easy to keep a steady rhythm without leverage, that and he had to keep a tight hold on Gordon at the same time. The struggle did not go unnoticed, as when the ginger Tracy’s back brushed up against the kitchenette cupboards as they floated around, Gordon reaching out to steady them to stop them moving around too much by slipping both his hands up under the metal handles of the top ones. It did mean he couldn't tease John as much as he wanted to - his lover's pale skin almost glowing under the low light like a brilliant star - but it did give the blonde unrestricted access to his whole body to do as he pleased.

Heavily panting and moving along to the beat of his lover's body he made little purrs and growls of delight when his lips were given freedom. They weren’t loud as John earlier by the telescope but more subdued for his lover's ears only. It was definitely something, his normal voice being considered more higher and jolly pitched in tone compared to the serious undertones of his brother John - which if you weren't used to it you'd easily make the mistake of his genuine enthusiasm for everything with being blunt and condescending despite him never having anything bad to say about anyone ever - becoming a deeper huskier sounding like someone poured gravel into his voice box and were rubbing against a large grinding stone. It wasn’t something he could make if he was loud, if anything you'd think he was in danger of suffocating if he tried. It didn't mean he wasn't as vocal, heck he was probably more so.

"J-John...uhhhh uhh.. J-John my beautiful...beautiful star...nnuuhhh...not...not worthy of being...with such….huuuh….a-a ethereal…." His head banged hard against the cupboard doors as John's fingers controlled how his body would move and respond while being made love to. Sometimes the feeling was so intense there was no sound other than his head being involuntary thumped despite his best efforts.

He risked moving one hand so he could guide one of John's lower to hold him, to tease and play as he made love to him before return it to the handle he had been holding just as a longer deeper thrust threw him back, the side of his head clipping the corner of the door's underside.

John hadn't at all forgotten about Gordon in that way, more he was afraid if he didn't keep both hands on him he would float away.

With Gordon holding on he could finally get that leverage, to thrust deeper reaching as deep as he could his other hand working to bring Gordon to his peak.

"Unworthy… of the Adonis before me… how could he love me so… never would I want to leave him unsatisfied…" He thrusted harder as well as pulled in turn as he felt that sweet release come over him.

Gordon's back arched him further into the cupboard doors, the last solid thump making him not just yelp in surprise but cover his lover's hand with the tension he had been holding onto. His body shuddered, continuing to shake as fever washed over him again as he struggled to get his breath back.

He let go of the door handles and gripped his lover's blonde head and rested his own forehead against it, a trickle to blood leaving his lips and dripping slow drops that he didn’t see land on John's cheek.

Gordon had pushed his body too far this time. Whatever the injury had been doing to him infection-wise, two rounds of intense sex not only had knocked him around but made him feel very drained and unwell.

He'd never felt anything like it before… Where was the euphoria? Usually doing this with John made him want more, hell typically he'd have been all OVER him repaying him in kind ...making the most of them naked and alone.

"J-Johnny…"

Gordon's hands slipped from his lover's head as he succumbed to a highly ferocious fever.

"Gordon!"  John cried as a moment of pleasure turned to panic as Gordon suddenly went limp, beads of blood floated up towards him. "Gordon! Stay with me Gordon!"

***

"I'm alright to do this. I'll set up the wiring while you're out there with the welding gear. Wish I could be more helpful than this, John. But passing out every….so often means I'm functionally useless out there in zero gravity." Gordon’s voice rasped over the com link. "After this is all done…we'll have to organise a shift swap with Alan as you'll have to take Three back…" as there is no way Gordon could fly it back if he was unconscious.

"No way would I let you even if you had wanted to" if Gordon passed out while space walking it could be disastrous. 

"Stay on com link, the moment I lose contact with you I'm heading back." 

John couldn't help feeling disappointed that their alone time was being cut short but the infection, virus, poisoning whatever it was, seemed to only be getting worse, they couldn’t risk Gordon's health any longer.

He checked the lifeline was secure again, before moving towards his destination with equipment floating along behind him, one great thing about no gravity it made it easy to bring a lot of items that would normally be far too heavy for John to carry all at once.

"F.A.B." Gordon rattled off in reply and then started talking out loud to himself in a way that suggested he had been dismantling the forgien language communications panel as familiar codes numbers and the strange names of certain wires and components were muttered that while sounded like complete gibberish, were something they both fully understood what each one was. At least this ment if his voice stopped talking nonsense John knew to come and check on him.

Walking along the ship's outside wasn't difficult thanks to the magnetic boots John was wearing as long he always kept one foot on the ship's side, it was only a little slow going.

"I've made it to the installation point." 

He informed Gordon welding the new communications array in place was going to be time consuming, there were a lot of wires and components that needed some precise precision.

"F.A.B." Gordon replied. "Just remember to keep an eye on your oxygen levels out there, Five. We didn’t get a chance to swap all the new tanks out with the old."

"F.A.B" John replied as he set up his equipment and tethered the rest to the side, he began with the components and wiring. This was the slow and trickier part, lots of small pieces that had to be perfect or the whole thing wouldn't work.

He ignited his blowtorch checking where he needed to start, a black visor slid down to protect his eyes as he worked, the moon just coming up from behind the Earth provided a welcome source of light to work by.

As Gordon slid out from under the console to reach into the tool box he left lying on the steel floor, pain suddenly shot through his arm and made his entire body jolt. The infection was spreading again though as the crimson veins of it started to advance, strange things were going on under the surface of his skin….bones went SNAP and POP shifting like something was ALIVE inside him between his flesh and his muscles. 

He yelped loudly in agony over the coms in his headset, desperation filling him with an urgent need to get to the infirmary though he didn't get far across the floor before the muscles inside of his limbs started to feel like someone was trying to rip them off his shattering bones.

John's heart stopped the moment Gordon's blood curdling scream filled the communications feed.

"Gordon! GORDON!" Getting no answer from his brother he abandoned the equipment and started heading back.

The most painful thing was happening in Gordon's head,  he clutched it as his entire body withered and seized against steel. It was like he had taken his helmet off before the air inside Thunderbird Four had de-pressurized - though frankly it was only a guess as if that was to ever happen he'd be dead instantly - as it felt like his brain, bones and everything in between was trying to rip free of his skull.

Blood was smeared everywhere as he fought with whatever was trying to kill him from the inside.

Eventually the screams stopped, leaving nothing but radio static.

"Gordon! I'm almost there, just hang on! Fuck, FUCK!" Why did he let him convince John he would be fine, while he did the space walk?

He had wanted to stay by Gordon's side - he should have stayed by side in case something like this happened!

John cursed every second it took for him to reach the airlock,  using the life line to pull himself there more quickly but it was still far too slow despite his urgency to return inside the station.

It seemed like forever before he reached it, slamming a hand on the bottom to closing the doors and starting the cabin pressurization process.

"Come on, come on!" Yells to the room trying to keep his cool, calm demeanour - how many life or death situations had his brothers been in? He needed to approach this like any other.

Cabin pressurization complete, John removed his helmet as he doors opened.

"Gordon! Gordon!" He ran to the communications room where he originally left his sibling to work alone.

The scene before him was like something from a horror movie, blood coated the walls, floor and even the ceiling. Tattered pieces of Gordon's uniform amongst it however his older brother was nowhere to be found.

John's heart was in his throat. What had happened? Where the hell was Gordon? Laying in blood, dying somewhere. 

He'd never found it so difficult not to panic, he needed to find him now before it was too late.

Something clicked heavily like bone scraping steel echoing around the empty communications room. The sound of panted breath filled the air and the temperature in the room seemed to drop, making John's breath appear in front of him and his hair stand on end. With the communications panel apart and non functional, the distinctive lack of constant chatter that usually filled the air was gone; it was replaced by eerie silence.

A chill ran down his spine as the uncanny sounds of something like that of an animal moving around echoed about the room. There couldn't possibly be an animal on the station, Gordon and he were the only two living individuals on board, yet he still heard the animalistic sounds.

There were thrumming sounds of the gravity ring as it regulated the gravity throughout the station, the sounds of rotary dials and pings from other machines in regards to life support and other generators, stuff that was typically drowned out by billions of voices that were now gone - all now being heard.

There was the sound of the lift going down to the floor below…where all the crew and living quarters were along with the hydroponics bay and holodeck.

Power flickered. Damn… the main power core was on that level too…

The lights went out. 

***

The sudden sound of everything powering down caused John to jump as his feet left the floor, as well as everything not anchored down.

What the hell was Gordon doing? Why did he cut the power? What was he thinking?

Without power there was no gravity, no life support, no heating, if he didn't bring it back on soon they would die from exposure if they didn't run out of air first.

John's eyes quickly adjusted to the low light the moon outside helped greatly in illuminating the room, he couldn’t reach the main core with no power from here, his only option with the back up.

Of course it was on the other side of the station, only two doors stood between him and it.

Turning himself around he pushed off the ceiling towards the doors, a panel on the side of them allowed him to open them manually.

He used the walls to push himself along to the next set of doors, breath misting in the air. The temperature was dropping fast now, his suit offering protection against it, he put his helmet back on now, as the oxygen was being thinner making it harder to breathe.

When he reached the second set of doors he went to open the panel beside it but found it stuck, putting a foot to the wall and despite pulling as hard as he could it wouldn't budge.

Suddenly, they started shifting…but not because of John's efforts. Talon like claws poked through as the doors were being forced open inch by inch…

They were accompanied by a growl.

John couldn't believe what he was seeing, he stared in horror as what looked like some kind creature pulled the doors open, his brain screamed for him to run but he was transfixed by the sight before him.

The doors were open just enough to squeeze through before the claws retracted back inside, a mournful sound echoed out from the generator room beyond.

John snapped out of the trance he had been in, when whatever it was disappeared back inside. He had no clue what that was, how it got on the station, it could have killed Gordon for all he knew his stomach dropped at the thought.

No he couldn't think that he needed to get the generator up and running asap and find Gordon.

There was a loud thud inside the room and another mournful growl. Whatever it was, it was dying from the thinning of air.

He had to be quick, every minute counted in finding his brother.

Steadying his nerves he pushed through the door and made for the control panel of the generator.

As power flickered on, restoring power to the station, whatever the thing that was supposed to be in the room had gone, a large puddle of blood left where it had hid in the shadows,  trailing what looked like paw prints back out the only way in.

A few torn pieces of Gordon's clothing clung to the door amongst blooded prints that weren’t human.

Seeing the blood and clothing John was terrified, with power back on the surveillance was the best way to pinpoint Gordon's location and where that thing was going.

There was the sound of things being broken back on the upper floor where the communications rooms were. There was howling echoing through the station along with savage grunts to accompany the smashing sounds.

Hearing sounds of destruction and howling John could only guess that the creature had likely destroyed the surveillance, as well as the communications. 

He was beginning to get a sense that whatever it was, was intelligent and was cutting him off. This left him with the only option of searching the station room by room for Gordon.

Eventually the sounds from the communications rooms stopped, followed by a long mournful wailing howl that seemed to fade out, a sign the creature had moved up towards the telescope viewing dome. Then a fainter sadder wail echoed around the space station.

With the creature up above John made for his cabin to retrieve his weapon before starting his search, once he found Gordon they would make for thunderbird three and get off the station.

Russet ginger fur glossy in the moon's glow on the beast's body, the creature pressing one of it's large misshapen clawed paws onto the glass as if to touch the faint reflection on its surface. 

A medium length broad snout also pressed up against the glass until it fogged up, ears twitching one after another.

John made it to his cabin with no resistance, now armed he began a systematic search of the station, starting on the lower floors and working his way up.

The creature shuffled in front of the glass, curling itself into a ball before it started attacking itself, clawing at it's own muzzle, biting at its own limbs. The painful and savage yelps and snarls reverberated inside the glass dome as it drew blood while tearing out chunks of fur that were growing back faster than it could pull it out.

Good, the thing was still up where the telescope was housed by the sounds of it, giving John valuable time to search for his sibling. He found there were a number of bloody prints about the floors, but none that could be Gordon's as they appeared more like an animal just where could he have gone? Was he dragged off by it somewhere?

There was no sign of his brother on the floor or in Thunderbird three, he briefly considered contacting their father but there would be nothing he could do.

He was on his own.

There was a bloody trail leading through the other comms room and up the ladder. Scraps of his brother's blue uniform hung off the railings.

"So much… blood…" He murmured to himself, he needed to hurry or Gordon might bleed out before he could reach him.

The blood trail continued on the floor above and he now knew just where it was leading, right into the beast's lair.

With a weapon in hand he headed that way now.

Ears pricked up at the sound of heavy boots on a metal ladder, the clattering and rattling sound getting nearer and nearer. The creature stood up on two long strong muscular legs that were half human, half canid, with a large brush-like tail swinging low between them. More tattered clothing fell off the body of it to the floor, soaking up the blood from the pools that the creature made trying to tear its own skin off.

Yet it didn't look like it suffered a single scratch.

John tried to be as quiet as possible climbing up, hopefully he could get the jump on the creature.

Laser pistol at the ready he carefully poked his head up scanning the floor above for any threats. 

The creature let out a growl. Lips curled back as it staggered backwards towards the glass dome, getting closer to a control panel for the telescope and holographic projector as the blonde Tracy held shakily onto his pistol and circled around him. The only way out was back down the ladder which was now behind him. 

It was definitely something from a nightmare though most depictions of said creature were usually of it with dark fur, huge claws and fangs dripping with blood and while there was a lot of it on the floor there was also chunks of hair in it as well, a sign the creature had been in distress.

It didn't look like it had lost any though, a long flowing coat of russet ginger… that was underneath the tattered remains of a blue and bloodied uniform. 

John's heart was beating so fast he could hear it in his ears, shaking so badly he could hardly hold his hands steady.

Finger on the trigger he moved round the room carefully keeping an eye on it as he searched for Gordon, the moonlight brightly shining through the dome lighting up the room.

The creature brushed its tail up against the console unit and locked eyes with John - narrow and still warm in caramel, finding nothing but fear in return from the bluest of oceans - to suddenly break eye contact to slam a gnarled claw onto the console so the whole room lit up with a interactive projection of the Tracy Quazar system, the colourful lights enough to make John falter for the large creature to attempt to dash past on all fours for freedom.

John tried to shield his eyes against the sudden bright lights blinding him.

He hit the floor thrown off his feet as the… thing… ran past him towards the ladder, dropping his pistol, he made a reach for it to take a shot at it but it was gone before he could.

Panicking, the creature's claws skidded around on the steel floor on the communications deck till it barrelled into the lift, clawing at the buttons until they sparked and made the wires short out.

The lift dropped and crumpled at the bottom just below the main accommodation deck.

A familiar howl of pain vibrated up the lift shaft. The beast was trapped.

***

John laid on the floor, while the beautiful colliding colours of the Quazar played out around him, as he tried to process just what he had just seen.

It was impossible, there was no such thing. He couldn’t even bring himself to say anything that would make it real…

And still he couldn't find Gor… a horrible thought struck him … those caramel eyes that had stared back at him.

This couldn’t be real…

The sounds of crashing metal followed by a howl of pain echoed through the station, John got to his feet and made for the ladder.

Within the total darkness of the bottom of the lift shaft where no moonlight could penetrate, bones were heard loudly crunching as skin and muscles fought to relocate and stretch over the form being reshaped. It was incredibly painful and the howls of sheer terror gave way to ones of agony and tears.

Human ones.

The sounds of animalistic cries turning to human screams lead John to the now destroyed lift, he hesitated before calling out. "Gordon!" voice becoming stronger "Gordon!"

"D-Don’t come down here Johnny!" His brother's voice struggled to shout back between stabs of sharp snapping and pain that was completely wrecking his body. "G-Get off the S-Station…"

"No Gordon, I'm not going to leave you here." If he was going to get him out he would need some equipment. 

He left for a few moments to retrieve an auto cable rope and a blowtorch he would have to cut him free.

Gordon swore loudly. Eventually Everything seemed to stop moving under his skin and while he was pinned beneath metal from the roof of the lift he knew he was ok and far safer down there than he was before on the main decks. 

He looked up when he heard a clattering from two levels above.

"Just leave me here John!" He shouted horsley. "If you bring me up…I might…" he shut his eyes as visions of what such a thing would become of him if John got in the way, reverting to whatever it was that had taken over. Most of it was violent and savage, involving his brother's body being torn apart and his insides strewn about with his head deep in his carcass. He prayed it was only because his brain was still reeling from what it just gone through twice with his body feeling as if it had been tortured but it was so VIVID it couldn't be just a passing thought from sheer panic.

"Gordon… it's alright we'll figure this out" His tone was cool and calm Gordon needed him to be his usual relaxed and in control self, no matter what this is, he would be there for him.

"Cover your eyes." He said as he lit the touch and started cutting through the twisted metal.

"John… there's every possibility I could kill you…"

"You could have… but you didn't, I don't really know what's happening to you… but I'm not going to leave you… we'll get through this" John replies as he cuts through another piece of metal.

"I don't know either and I don't like it." Gordon coughed and spat out blood. In it were several sharp canine teeth. "But I think I may have an idea." His eyes were wide in terror staring at them. "Holy shit."

"Hang on, almost there." John says, cutting through the last piece of metal, finally reaching him he grabbed hold of Gordon pulling him into a tight embrace. "Are you hurt? There was a lot of blood…" Pulls him closer, trying to stop himself from trembling.

"Hurt isn't really the word I'd be using." Gordon gave John a look that showed the confusion he had with even himself.  He wasn't one to mince words nor to hide his emotions, they were always honest and readable. The two of them were so close it was almost impossible to lie to the other without getting caught out the second you opened your mouth so they eventually stopped trying. Their other siblings were still fair game on that score, considering they had one massive lie between them that had been relatively easy to keep so far. How they were possibly going to hide this one though was beyond Gordon's typical mental processes.

He moved John's hand that held the torch and aimed it where his 'supposed to be injured' shoulder was. The bandages had come off sometime ago and right now there wasn’t a single mark on his skin - heck even all his old scars that wouldn't heal properly from multiple rescues and the horrendous hydrofoil crash were gone. "I don't think bleeding to death is going to be a problem anymore, John. You and I both know this…the fall from two floors in the lift should have killed me."

"Regeneration." John marvelled looking over Gordon's wounds, well lack of. In fact he looked fantastic, better than John had seen him in years. "How much from those stories is really true?" He looks back up the shaft. "You're staying down here, aren't you?"

"Unless you can take the moon out of space I don't see much of an option."

"The station orbits the moon once every twelve hours if that's what causes…" Struggles with the words. "Hold on, I'll get you some clothes, there's about… another seven hours we're in orbit of it. " 

Gordon shivered. "So I have to hide every twelve hours I'm up here? I can't do that on the return trip to Earth John. It's impossible." He swallowed. He knew his brothers would definitely shoot to kill if they found a creature inside the spaceship - especially Alan who has a fondness for hunting on some of his away trips to the English countryside. 

"Hey, I'd never let that happen, we'll come up with something to get you off the station." Takes one of the teeth from Gordon, holding it up for a closer look. "First things first we need to figure out what we're dealing with." Pockets the tooth "I'll check if the medbay computer has finished its analysis." Takes hold of the cable. "I'll be right back." puts a hand on Gordon's shoulder before the auto cable reels him back up.

John brought clothes, water and food for Gordon; he couldn't remember the last time he'd actually seen him eat. 

He then headed to the medbay the computer was still going. 

He put the tooth into a simple analyser he watched as a tiny drill took a simple from its core.

John then headed back to the telescope housing dome and collected blood and fur from there; they needed all the data they could get if they were going to fight this.

Feeding everything into the computer he sat back. Waiting there everything felt like it started to really hit him.

This was real - fuck it was real, a supernatural creature of fantasy, a monster from right out a horror movie, cryptids were actually real - how many of them were there? How could they have stayed hidden for so long? Did that mean everything from movies and literature was true too?

He'd seen first hand Gordon survived without a scratch, how did this happen? That dog that attacked him, one thing was for sure that was no dog.

It bitten him so it was like the stories? He couldn’t stop his hands shaking, what were they going to do?

Gordon sat at the bottom of the broken lift, at least dressed in boxer shorts as he figured there was no point when he'd have to eventually get out and whatever the hell happened to him occurs again. Clothes were not going to survive that.

Hell if it did happen, the last thing he wanted was to have it occur in front of John. Somehow he figured that the amount of unnatural pain he went through wouldn't look as pretty watching it happen just as much as it was tourture going through it.

He really should eat, his brother did bring him…no actually better not. Gordon put the lid on the chicken strip sandwich before the smell hit him and made him go a bit crazy. That NEVER smelled so…unappealing cooked before. What the hell?

Thoughts of munching on a fresh kill wafted through his mind, Gordon clutching his head with his eyes shut tight hoping that they'd go away. 

Come on Gordo! Think of something else! He mentally cursed. Hang on… he sniffed and looked around in the dark. The lift had a really musky smell that not only was familiar but fairly recent lingering in the air.

It was from when he teased John yesterday, his sibling still smelling strongly from their bit of fun not long after he docked at the station. He usually smelt pretty good but never this…this tantalising.

Thoughts inside his head began to shift from hunger to something else an animal desires.

The Beast stirred. 

"Analysis complete." John heard the computer say, he was just about to see what was on the screen when an alarm started going off. 

"Abnormality detected, abnormality detected."

"What the fuck!" John rushed over to it furiously typing on the keyboard trying to suit it off. He had no idea it had been rigged to automatically send data off! Dad must have put that in!

"Abnormality detected, contacting…"

"Oh no you don't!" He shouted, going for a panel under the screen there was no time to find the right wires to cut, he just grabbed hold of as many as he could and ripped them out.

The screen flickers and dies, did he stop it time? He could only hope he had. He looked at the wires in hand, unfortunately he had just broken their best hope of any help.

Something warm could be felt breathing by his ear. A long warm sandpaper like tongue licked him across the skin of John's neck.

The wires dropped from his hand, and his heart was in his throat. "Gordon?" he whispered.

Something else pressed into the small of his back. It was warm, meaty and hard. There was a low growl as a large muzzle nudged his head and snorted as it rested on his shoulder before it licked him again.

It wanted to play.

John didn’t fail to feel just what Gordon wanted; he really was going to be devoured by him, just not in the way he had thought.

Denying him was very likely a bad idea John had seen the destruction he left him making angry would likely winded him up dead.

"You want to…" He swallows hard and reaches up to the head on his shoulder, fingers catching in its silky fur. 

Gordon's new muzzle affectionately rubbed against his brother, teeth catching his purple sash and pulling at it until the material tore apart before making an attempt at the shoulders of the uniform, tugging it rather hard, as if desperate to take it off without trying to hurt him though when that seemed to fail, claws were hooked into the fabric and pulled rougher with slightly more malice that it was in the way.

Fucking hell. John smelled so damn good. Every time he inhaled through his wet canid nose he breathed him in, filling his brain with not just natural human musk, but other things that while smelled pretty ok to Gordon in general they were now amplified, like the smell of mint shower gel and lemon shampoo that filled his mind full of vivid colours on top of a deep lust to mate.

John helped in removing his clothes before Gordon accidentally hurt him, his heart was beating so fast but if it was from fear or apprehension at what was about to happen he couldn't tell.

Finally he turned to look at Gordon and gasp, a wolfin face looked back at him with a long muzzle filled with dagger sharp teeth, pricked ears moving picking up sounds around them, his eyes were their same caramel colour but now were those of a predator the state of which was so intense, John felt he was looking into his soul.

He stood on animalistic hind legs with paw-like hands tipped in razor-like claws.

His whole body was covered in rich russet red fur under which he could still see all of Gordon's fine mussels, with his most prominent one on full display.

Pictures and movies didn't do justice to the real life man beast Gordon had become.

"Your… magnificent…" John said to him and couldn’t help smiling when the tail Gordon now had started wagging.

Gordon let out a growl, words were extremely hard to make with a mouth designed with teeth for ripping into flesh. Instead he brushed his large wolf head against his brother affectionately, tongue licking playfully though with more speed that he intended more or less bathing the blonde Tracy in drool while scent marking him.

His large pawed hands pinned John to the steel floor, his extra heavy weight effectively preventing his sibling from moving while he continued to mark him as his property.

There was no warning when his large crimson member was made known to his brother, fur rising on his back and shoulders until an unusually new part of his body stopped it going further.

Odd. 

The long muzzle left John's upper body briefly to inspect what was going on further down. A large knot-like section was preventing him from fully coupling with his mate. The growl grew loud before a few experimental movements managed to squeeze that part all in too, ears pricking up as this elicited a loud yelp from his sibling.

The sudden aggressive manner in which Gordon entered him was nothing compared to whatever he had just done.

John arched his back throwing his head back as he let out a cry of pain, fingernails digging into Gordon’s arms so hard they may have drawn blood but he healed so fast who knew.

From the look on his face it was evident he was in some discomfort. 

A wet tongue licked at his face. "I'm alright," John tried to persuade him by pulling Gordon's head close to his chest. "Just have to get used to it. '' he whispered in one of his pointed ears.

Gordon's wolf head eyed him carefully. It seemed to be thinking about something though verbalising it wasn’t going to become an option without human lips.  What would happen if John did get used to this and someone found a way to take it all away? What did it mean for his regular old human body? 

Not moving around much, Gordon's beastly head lay itself against John's chest, the one visible ear flicking occasionally. 

Ah yeah he did see his reflection in this shape. At the time he thought MONSTER but now with a tiny bit of time to get used to it, compared to him normally it was elegant, like a big loveable mountain dog.

Regular Gordon Tracy, short statured, carrot shaped and carrot topped slightly chunky around the chest and shoulders with a face that only a bulldog would love…was even out shone by a fucking cursed mystery illness. 

He let out a sorrowful whine.

"What's wrong? It's not like you to have the wind taken out of your sails so easily." John wasn't sure if he could speak, he assumed he couldn't, he wrapped his arms around his neck rubbing his cheek against fur.

"Gordo it's going to be ok no matter what I'll always be here for you, you know that right?" He gives him a kiss on his muzzle.

Gordon snorted and licked John's face.

"Alright, alright I know you hate it when I get all sappy. We're going to work this out." whispers as he kisses one of his furry ears."You're leaving me hanging by the way."

There was another snort as the wolfman moved to tower above him again, making sure John would regret teasing it. It was impossible not to be rough, even wrapping the blonde up tight in his muscular arms so he was partially sitting up. He gave some very hard and lengthy thrusts, though little moved thanks to the knot preventing wriggle room…

At least, until Gordon figured out how to get it in and out with a vigorous rhythm.

Tongue hung out of his muzzle as he panted heavily, stopping to occasionally cover his lover's body with lapping licks every time a thrust moved John around exposing different parts of his shoulders and neck to be tasted.

Gordon had always been intense in their love making but this was on an entirely different level, the paw like hands he now possessed were not at all designed for caressing or cuddling, claws pierced the sort skin of John's back but he hardly noticed as Gordon's thrusting and wicked tongue kept his mind more occupied.

Gordon was of a decent enough size to begin with but right now he was feeling enormous. His vigorous movements didn't give John much choice but to hang on as best he could and enjoy the ride, locking his legs round Gordon hips.

"Gordon!… nuuuuhhh… fuck! Ahhhh FUCK!... He cried, throwing his head back, as that wet tongue licked along his neck. 

Gordon's wolf head threw itself back to let out a loud howl that filled the air. He'd never got the chance to be a loud lover, aware he'd sound terrible if he tried but now… now he was panting loudly, growling, howling and letting out yelps and whines as he made his brother his bitch.

Ok, so he'd never DARE think that normally but for some reason he was thinking it now. Sure, there was no way they could breed but something in his head was very keen to try.

He pushed John down roughly against the steel floor and rolled him over till he could wrap his arms around from behind and push harder, move faster and mate with more virility.

John had never been taken quite like this before, then again he'd never been with a werewolf before, so it was all quite an experience.

Gordon had him down on all fours arms around his waist preventing any kind of escape working into him so hard he felt it in the pit of his stomach. 

Claws bite into his thighs and stomach blood drips on the floor but John didn’t notice as he was just trying to catch the breath that was being knocked out of him, his throat was sore and raw his voice horse from his cries.

"Gor… Gor… Gordon!… ahhh!… ahhh!… GODS!…

Desperation was setting in, the wolf was demanding it to be satisfied. Something inside the head of it was screaming at the creature that had taken over as behind the animal's predatory eyes. It could see what was happening,  the cuts, the bruises, the blood…and some coming from somewhere it shouldn't. 

The energetic assault subsided as something somewhere inside of the creature finally gained some semblance of control. 

As John fell limply to the floor the creature had withdrawn and was tearing at itself, as if there was an internal fight going on within it.

Eventually strong broad human arms picked John's tall lithe figure up and carried it to a bed and while he was still unconscious,  tended to his wounds and made sure he was comfortable. 

No way was Gordon going to touch him after that. What he did while out of his control thanks to animalistic frenzy was something he promised a long time ago he'd never ever let anyone do to John.

He never considered he'd be that….guy.

He made one last check over his sibling before leaving him to recover without the predator sitting in the corner making him feel unsafe. The moon was still strong but he was determined to fight this… this thing until he could get off the station and figure out what to do from there. John wasn't in any condition to help fix the utter destruction he had caused; however there was no way he could sleep knowing that he could become dangerous at any moment, so he threw himself at fixing everything that he had broken.

***

"Ok Alan, how's the holographic working on your end?"

"Looking good Gordon but shouldn't John be doing this and you the stuff with the new satellite?"

Gordon gave a brief glance up at the hologram of his youngest sibling who was back home on the island wiring connections up in dad's new office. "He's taking a break."

"And you? Come on Gordon you can be as bad as Virgil sometimes working yourself until you need to be tied down and restrained." Alan's hologram gave his older sibling a quizzical look. "From here you don't look that crash hot yourself."

"It's fine Alan, unlike you and John the lack of normal gravity gets to me."

"Well don't make yourself sick ok? I still want to see both you and John at my engagement party this weekend."

"Black tie?"

"Nah," Alan brushed it off. "Smart casual.  But you know dad, he'd expect all my friends to be in shirts."

"Sure, Alan.  Will let John know too."

Alan's holographic gaze still stayed fixedly on Gordon.  "Make sure you get rest beforehand, ok? There's some guys TinTin invited that you might find really interesting to meet. Oh and that girl from her hen's night? What was her name? Sophie? I think that's the one, got the whitest blonde hair I've ever seen…she's asking if we could set her up on a date with John. She loves space and reads the books he's published, they might get on like a house on fire."

Gordon simply nodded. He knew the lady, she was the one that couldn't get over that one of Alan's older brothers was an official 'confirmed Bachelor' while Gordon honestly just wanted to escape her presence. She was lovely and drop dead beautiful but unfortunately didn't have the brain power to know when to stop talking.

Oh man, John would LOVE that… he mused shaking his head.

"These friends of TinTin's, they from her college, yes?"

"I think so. One is really a looker. If I swung that way that is."

Gordon sighed. "Alan, need I remind you of the last time you told me that about another fella and it turned out….badly. "

"This time I'm right Gordon,  you'll see."

"I think I'll be hanging around Virgil just in case." Gordon winced as the memory of last time flickered across his mind. Thankfully Dad, Scott and John weren't at THAT party. They were given the evening off after a pretty horrific rescue in order to wind down and Alan suggested some fancy arsed night club.

Gordon honestly didn't remember alot from it, other than the pain of waking up in emergency with several dozen stitches down his side from being drugged up, dragged into a back alley and repeatedly glassed. The bloke had recognised him and spiked his drink thinking that he could get a shot at revenge on International Rescue for his business being ruined by them not putting the fire out and saving his employees instead.

If it hadn't been for the fact Virgil was watching out for him…

Gordon saw this despondent look in Alan's hologram. "We'll see ok? I've never really gotten off on the right foot with your mates. "
"Well I was thinking of inviting some of yours but dad said I had way too many to keep operation cover up functioning so…." 

"Yeah I don't think you'd get Troy and Sam to come, Alan. They haven't spoken to me since the accident. But I will try, just for you ok?"

Alan beamed. "You won't regret this Gordon."

"I'm sure I won't. Anyway I better check on John and get him back to work."

When the call ended Gordon rested against the repaired console and took a breather. He couldn’t stop though, the fever kept coming back whenever he felt tired. Fighting against it was taking all his mental energy and sheer willpower to stay on top of it.

Unfortunately he had to sleep. The beast had different ideas. He was relieved he could lock the cabin quarters door where he was supposed to sleep as the moment he tried the shifting occured and utter fury and rampage went on within until he got himself under control. He was running on no sleep thanks to the beast being forced awake every twelve hours and it was taking its toll. Trying to fix the damage he had done and look after John in the medbay were also putting a strain on his resolve. If he let the beast out though….

John was doing better at least. The younger Tracy avidly talked away about how cool it was Gordon was a werewolf and kept joking around as if he wanted his brother to bite him or at the very least, let him pat the creature. It was wearing him out trying to avoid it as he KNEW exactly what thoughts he was having about John everytime he shifted in the little cabin.

They weren’t exactly pleasant ones.

Pushing his exhausted frame up off the console, he headed out of the communications room to see if he could finish repairs on the lift.

John had come to almost forty-eight hours after a night he'd never forget, one that he was still feeling from bruises and cuts alike.

For the first couple of days he hadn't been able to sit or lay on his back without it being too uncomfortable, even with his regular painkillers on board along with the usual cigarettes and alcohol as a healthy combination.

In that time he begin reading everything and anything he could find on werewolves on the web, something must be able to help him in finding a cure for Gordon.

He stood by the computer in the medbay, Gordon had fixed it then had to break it again when the alarm started sounding, disconnecting it from the main frame.

He'd been reading over the results from the test on Gordon.

It was definitely viral, having taken over his cells to hide from his immune system, with the highest concentration in his saliva  - he found out after he finally got Gordon to do a cheek swab - from there it needed to get into the bloodstream. It made sense Gordon had been infected that way and stories said someone became one after being bitten so that checked out too.

How long did it take them to take over? There was one way to find out, he really hoped Gordon didn’t walk in and get the wrong idea.

He pulled the strap tight around his arm and drew some blood.

He put some a petri dish with some of Gordon's swelled them about to make sure they were mixed and put them under the microscope.

On the screen he saw nothing happening that didn't surprise him. Cells didn't work that fast, he took a drag from his cigarette and a thought occurred to him.

He was missing one of the key concepts: the light of the moon, it had to have something to do with it.

He heard Gordon talking to Alan and went to grab some tools, back in the medbay he dragged a magnifying lamp over, it wasn’t hard to modify it to the same wavelengths as moonlight.

Flipping it on he shone it at the sample and looked back to the screen, some of the cells began to become active, they moved towards other uninfected cells, tiny moving parts came out of them looking like tentacles which grasped on into the unaffected ones.

"Fuckin hell." He was shocked at how quickly they moved, guessing at this rate it would take maybe a few hours for the virus to spread through someone's body.

Gordon opened the medbay doors, carrying a tray with coffee and breakfast- just how he remembered John likeing it, three poached eggs, two sausages and no trace of mushrooms whatsoever.

He sat it down on the bench beside him. "Everything alright John?" He asked, his voice a little shaky. No real sleep was starting to affect more than his physical demeanour but everything else too. The chipper 'So what if everyone calls me fucking crazy,' Tracy was very much locked behind a wall of some kind. It was hard for Gordon to do unless something was eating him from the inside. 

No truer description of it was happening as of right now. He looked atrocious. John could really see the strain he was under. The lack of sleep wasn't helping but he wasn't going to say anything about it after all his own sleeping patterns were non-existent and he couldn't pin him down to talk to him but he had an idea.

He turned the light off. "I do have one problem…"

"Oh? Something I can help with?"

"Well I haven't showered in the last couple of days and -" It was obvious why but he wasn't going to say it and make Gordon feel more guilty then he already did. "I need your help."

"Ah. Well, I could try. Never been up here long enough to learn how you use that thing anyway. You'll have to tell me what to do." He gave his brother a reassuring smile. Honestly learning how the vacuum toilets worked on the station had taken him sometime, even getting his holo watch dropped in there and trying to get it out, he learnt there's a reason you don't stick your arm in.

But that watch was expensive and was a present from his brother, since wearing other jewellery wasn't something you could do when you're out on a call.

"I'll get clean dressings for… those… scratches." Gordon found it hard to avoid talking about the damage he did when he had to confront it directly. His brown eyes were very quick to look away in shame as he brushed his hair back roughly, the obvious lack of showering he had done was just as easy to see when none of his fringe fell back into place, remaining slicked back from sweat and oils.

John sighed and looked back at the screen the cell take over had slowed down significantly.

"You know what bothers me the most?"

"Uh..?" Gordon faltered, forcing himself to look at his brother. He could still make out all the faint bruises and marks on his brother's features and swallowed. If he could see them then so could everyone else. That was the only problem with John's very pale skin - bruises take longer to heal.

They would definitely ask questions at the party and while it wasn't a secret that Gordon occasionally delved into make-up, there wasn’t anything he had that could give his brother's pale complexion a cover up.

He gently brushed some of the stray blonde hairs out of John's eyes and gave him the best smile he could manage while he waited for the rest of his thoughts.

He took Gordon's hand and kissed it before bringing it on the side of his face.

"They're going to heal but they'll scar and always be a reminder for you."

Gordon flinched at his words and tried to pull away but John wasn't letting him do it this time.

"Gordon, do you know why I love you? 

He knew would try to make him move on one day, it was for the best of course their relationship would have to end but he didn't want to be made to, only when he was sure they both were.

"We've always been together let's face it we have never really fit in, even when we were kids if one of us had a bad dream we never went dad but always to each other, we told each other everything we've never felt like there was anything we couldn't say, we can never lie to each other."

"You're the only one who calls me after a rescue or when things have gone wrong to ask me how am I doing."

"That day I kissed you I had wanted to for a long time, I'd been in love with you before I even understood what that meant, the next few days waiting for your response were agony, I knew nothing was ever going to be the same between us but you returned my feelings… I still can't believe you do."

"I'll do anything I can for you Gordon because you are the most important person to me."

John sighed heavily, that had been a lot to get off his chest.

"Now about that shower…"

Gordon didn’t shift his hand from his sibling's face, instead he used it to pull his brother close and kiss him as softly as he dared. "Fuck the shower, you don't need it until we're home." 

He kissed John again, this time taking his time to let his brother get comfortable and explore before lifting the taller, thinner Tracy up and sitting him on the console counter.

"I don't want the…thing to hurt you. Unfortunately it's now a part of me, a buried monster. You mean more to me than you know and I…."

He nuzzled John and kissed his neck. "Don't want to hurt you."

Gordon paused, letting out a nervous laugh. "Thing is, all alone up here it's pretty damn hard to try and resist…" his hands snaked playfully under John's pyjama shirt. "Especially after what you've just said." 

He gave John a sly smirk. "You know damn well the feelings are mutual, right? Wouldn't be trying to keep under control if they weren't."

There was a twitch as something not typical of Gordon's emotional range crossed his features briefly, a sign he was fighting the urge to shape shift even as he spoke. He wanted to please John, that's all he came up here for - the one person he was ever able to make happy - the creature however wanted other things. It wanted to breed, it wanted to kill…

It wanted carnage. It was feeding off all the internal fury and rage that Gordon kept locked up that only surfaced after a bad rescue and he had to vent it out with laps in the pool. The frustration of dad dismissing any of his concerns about safety, the fact Virgil and Alan almost got blown up on a oil rig fire evacuation or the fact Scott's arm was shattered when that bolder fell during the landslide in Peru… the fear of something jumping him deep inside the mine in Russia and mauling him before trapping him underground. 

John was never allowed to see or know those things but Gordon would tell him anyway, even if it was a more sanitised version than he really wanted to. Afterall if dad found out someone had mentioned any of it, punishment would be swift. Sure it was for John's own good as far as their old man was concerned after one rescue his younger brother was on ended so badly that they were lucky he couldn't remember it. Scott and Virgil agreed and that was that - John was barred from rescues.

It wasn’t his fault though. It was their father's and eldest brother's poor judgement that almost got him killed. In one way Gordon was happy he had memory loss from it as it took him months to get over it himself. 

All these things the beast wanted to unleash out of itself and the visions of destruction were constantly crossing his mind.

Gordon shut his eyes as John's fingers ran through his hair and the inner fight with the wolf was pushed back for now. For the moment it was allowing him to bestow John with affection - though it was happy to remind him it would take over once his guard was down via another visual tick.

"I'm not afraid Gordon because its you, I'm more worried about how we hide this from the others, I'm not going to be able to get out of an examination forever"

He couldn’t remember much of the accident that almost claimed his life.

He'd been in a coma for weeks and suffered horrific injuries and several broken bones, the worst being seven vertebrates in his spine.

He'd had to go through months of physio even having to learn to walk again.

But the injuries he suffered may have healed but his back injury was chronic and was becoming worse as the years went by, it was part of the reason why he chose to work on the station the lower gravity hurt his back less.

Painkillers only helped so much and he was limited in how much he could take. As being out of it on them, he couldn’t help anyone, so he drank and smoked the limited amount he had as an unhealthy way to distract himself, he knew it was bad but everyone did things they shouldn't. Some were just worse things than others.

Gordon looked into John's eyes and held his gaze. "Those pools of the bluest ocean keep pulling me back to a heart of compassion and the embodiment of tranquillity and grace."  He grinned and gave an amused snort. "And no, I didn't read through Virgil's god awful books of poetry he writes to find those words. Occasionally I can think of corny stuff too."

Gordon wrapped his arm around John tight, his hands gently massaging his siblings body beneath the shirt as he returned to kissing him with teasing little brushes of the lips. Eventually one hand moved around to undo a few of the buttons so the satin slipped off the blonde's shoulders and exposed some of his chest for those lips to tenderly caress.

With his brother sitting on the console,  Gordon slipped the hem of his sibling's trousers down a little to give him a little freedom before lowering his head and applying his tongue to lavish some much needed attention in the way he knew his brother liked it. Despite the lack of showering at least they were both pretty vigilant on keeping certain parts of themselves clean enough to entertain each other. Long lovingly licks that stroked all the way up and down, playfully flicking at the tip and of course enveloping the length as much as he could, luckily having a jaw the right shape for this sort of thing.

John threw his head back with his hands against the wall he bucked his hips pushing as much of his length into Gordon gorgeous morth his tongue making fireworks.

"Uhhhhh oh fuck! Oh gods yessssss fuck yessssss!"

John's cries echoed through the room, he grabbed fistfuls of Gordon's hair trying his best to hold out as long as possible.

"Fuckin hellllllll your a god!"John cried loudly as he pushed Gordon's head down on him.

Gordon gripped one of John's legs and gave it a warning squeeze. He knew his brother got excited when he did this and tended to forget he didn't like being almost choked in the process.

John let go giving Gordon the chance to breathe, instead grabbing his shoulders needing something to hold onto as he let himself be lost in the attention Gordon gave him, digging his fingernails into his shoulders as he was about to reach his peak.

There was some coughing during a brief pause. John was admittedly slightly longer than average and getting it deep into your throat further than comfortable had a few drawbacks. Luckily for Gordon he hadn't really eaten anything so he wasn't going to be made to regret his younger lover's over excitement. When he returned to pampering, he also employed his hands to stroke along the other Tracy's inner thighs and just along the inner hip bone, watching his brother squirm trying to hold on. The teasing had to end however, so he went back to employing his tongue to dance around the tip.

"Ahhhhh! Gordon more! Moreeeee! Almost… ahhhhhhh!"

He screamed out to the high heavens as he reached that point of bliss making whole body shake, breathing hard when it was over, and had what he knew was a big dumb grin on his face.

Gordon had not moved from his place between his lover's legs, though he had stopped to swallow at the very least. However when John had finally come down from his high and looked back down towards him it wasn’t the warm eyes of his older brother looking back up at him, but those brown hungry savage ones of the wolf.

The transformation was getting faster…and the beast had just tasted how salty he was.

John tried to back away pulling his legs up but there was nowhere to go with a wall right against his back, this was the first time he'd seen Gordon's metamorphosis, it was fast and fluid his clothes ripped apart and his frame increased in size face lengthening into a beast muzzle teeth turned to fangs as fur pushed its way through every pore.

None of that however was as frightening as his eyes, they were those of a deadly predator, the beast licked its lips, John did think he could handle another session like last time or maybe it had other ideas.

Either way he looked for opinions to escape if he had to, not that he would be able to out run Gordon, maybe he could get through to him, he had to do something.

"Gordon it's still you in there isn't Gordon?"

There was a long growl and snort before the muzzle started sniffing the scent of sex, inhaling it deepy and licking it's chops.

John started to carefully slide across the console trying to distract him or get through to Gordon as he did so.

"It's still you isn't it Gordon… you and I we've been through a lot, more than any normal person ever has…"

He tried not to look at the door as moved a little further away towards it.

"Things that would break people haven't broken you because… you're stronger than  you think…"

He was almost there and ready to try to make a break for the door, his heart was beating so fast he was sure it was going to jump out of his chest.

The beast leaped for John, barely missing him as he darted out the medbay. It had only one thing on it's mind and it was clearly packing heat, ready to mate. It pounded around the steel floors in pursuit of the Space faring Tracy, the only advantage John having was not having claws that skittered across steel.

John ran for the main quarters, the wolf on his heels he made it through the door and darted to one side as the beast slid through behind him. As it lost its footing, he ran back out slamming the button to close the door and lock it.

However the wolf was too fast, catching it with its claws and pulling it back open.

John fell back in surprise but quickly regained his feet making a break for the ladder to the next level, he almost made it too but falling lost him valuable time to escape.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his ankle as the man beast jumped at him catching him in with its teeth and tried to pull him back down.

John hang on for dear life and kicked out at the beast's muzzle. It yelped but didn't let go, he kicked harder pulling his weight against it til it finally let go, he scrambled up over the top of the ladder slamming the cover closed just as the wolf jumped at him again there was a hard thud against the lid and an angry roar.

As he sled back across the floor away from the ladder, breathing hard his heart beating so fast he could hear it, there was another thud and angry snarling.

Coming down from his adrenaline rush he started to feel the pain in his ankle, getting to his feet he limped his way to the nearest sink and ran water over it. Maybe he could wash it clean, stop it before it got into his blood maybe…

"FUCK!" He screamed as he punched the mirror in front of him so hard it cracked, and slid down to the floor by the sink.

What was he going to do now, Gordon was getting worse it was obvious. Now the same was going to happen to him, how could he help him then? Help himself before it was too late?

There was another thud and a frustrated roar, maybe he wouldn't have to worry about it Gordon might kill him before then. He couldn’t stop the tears that he started to shed as he gave into feelings of helplessness.

***

Gordon stuffed his belongings into his kit bag, fully intent on cleaning out his cabin that he was assigned on the station. It wasn’t much, unlike John, Scott and Alan who had alot of things up here for when they did monitor duty to stay occupied during lulls, Gordon was only ever there in the same way Virgil was - temporary until the work was done and out again.

But even Virgil had left his mark in his quarters, he added to the large mural on the wall everytime he visited.

Gordon barely left anything there. Though mostly because he tended to share John's bed however it wasn't that much of a surprise. His room at home was almost as empty these days, what little in it barely got moved around collecting dust. The only thing to really be touched was his guitar and lately that was getting left unplayed. Hard to when your inspiration was millions of miles away most of the time.

He took all of it, intending on never coming back to stay.  John would be glad on his return here after Alan's party that his 'nightmare' wasn't ever going to haunt him again in space.

He caught his reflection in the small mirror next to the bed. Even scrubbing himself clean of blood the brusie to his right side of the face was still prominent and impressive. Open wounds healed but it was interesting how bruises did not.

He didn't remember anything after the change this time, let alone much before it like he had fallen asleep while he lost control. He didn't feel refreshed though… more drained and exhausted.  Whatever he must have done, John clearly gave him what he deserved.

He looked very pale too under his tan, dark marks under his eyes betraying his lack of sleep to the world at large. He didn't once think he couldn't fly the rocket back home though, figuring if he crashed it wouldn't be that big of a loss.

"John? I…I kind of need to tell you something."

"Like what Gordon? You've sort of avoided me every day on my leave since I've been home."

"It's about last Thursday."

John looked around the kitchen to make sure they were indeed alone. "What about it?"

Gordon grabbed his sibling and pulled him close, kissing him on the lips. He had bided his time waiting for dad, Virgil, Scott and Tintin to visit their English family friend so he could finally give his younger brother answer. Sure, they weren’t entirely alone as dad's friend and household caretaker was still around to make sure that they still responded to call outs - Gordon at the very least - if Alan had an emergency but that wasn't going to stop him as if Kyrano saw anything they could convince the poor man he was suffering another one of his episodes. It wasn’t ideal but Gordon was running out of time.

Both of them were in the open, making out with each other until Gordon pressed John against the bench and started to playfully undress him, nibbling, nipping, tasting him as he went until he was down on his knees worshiping him until his sibling was spent and begging him for more.

He had been more than happy to, wrapping one of John's legs around his waist as he made love to him, exploring him, learning how his body moved, how it shuddered and responded to touch.

Gordon remembered how John let him do that in the kitchen with him for over two hours before taking him by the hand to move themselves to his bedroom where he himself didn't let up, committing every curve, bone, muscle, scar, ticklish spot to his memories, letting John ride him however much he liked  as he made love to him. He remembered lying to dad when he called saying they'd just finished swimming in the pool but at least they were ready when the rest came home again.

Eight hours of some of the most intense sex they had ever had as thier first time. Sure they had learnt to be gentler over the years but damn there was a reason it had never been forgotten. He swore if they were to do this there had to be one rule: NEVER hurt his brother.

He had now broken that twice.

He HAD to set John up with someone at the party. His sibling needed to escape him while he had the chance.

***

John was in the communications room and had been for several hours, he'd kept an eye on Gordon wolf through the surveillance. He'd gone to check on him when he shape shifted back, he'd been sheepish ever since around John - that was understandable having no memory of what happened and waking with a sizeable bruise to the face - he didn't tell Gordon what had happened, he was hoping he would never have to and that he could cure them with Gordon never knowing.

He drew some more of his blood and checked it under the microscope, just like he thought he could see it spreading through his system, he needed to find something they could use and soon.

So he'd taken to the dark web as he wasn't finding anything through regular channels, he was really getting over people asking if he was selling anything illegal, it was the dark web so what should he really expect.

Eventually he found a chat room with people talking about their encounters with supernatural creatures. A posted vid he found of a werewolf convinced him he was on the right track.

A name kept recurring when he asked his questions… Dr. Linda Foley, an expert in the field of cryptozoology.

From there it wasn’t hard to find her contact details, he pushed it in on the holo phone, almost ringing out before it was eventually picked up, a middle aged woman with graying brown hair dressed in vintage answered.

"Hello this is Dr. Linda Foley, who I'm I speaking to?"

"Hello Dr. Foley my name is John Tracy, I hear you're an expert in cryptozoology?"

She moved back so John can see your degrees on the wall behind her.

"So you're interested in one of my more obscure fields?"

"I - I was wondering if I could ask you some questions, specifically about werewolves."

"Ahh lycanthropy as an interest?"

"Very much so… tell me Doctor is there any way to cure someone, I've read through many websites but… most say how to kill one…"

"Mmm… as you say many would say someone can only be unburdened of the curse by death." John sees her frown as if she is in deep thought. "Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright…." 

She says this more as a thought to herself than John, he listened to her confused as to just what she was getting at.

"One moment…" She gets up her chair and disappears off screen, returning a few moments later with an old book in hand. "My tebetic is rusty…" Flips through the pages. "Here we are… it says… monkshood grows in the northern regions of Asia… is said to be able to cure it."

"Monkshood…" John's fingers quickly input it into a search. "Wolfsbane?" She nods "But it's highly toxic according to this."

"This is a book of traditional Tibetan medicines, some actually have more truth than you think."

"Can you hold it up for a moment?" He asks as he snaps a few pictures. "Thank you doctor."

"You're welcome Mr Tracy and if you are looking to acquire one, I would try the Alnwick garden in England."

"Right, thank you again."

"Good luck." 

He ended the call he had the she definitely knew but he had more immediate worries, as he started the computer to translate the pages and find out just which one it referred to, there were only over two hundred and fifty types according to what he had read. 

Easy…

As more of the pages were translated he could finally read what kind it referred to. 

He needed to make one more call before they left.

"Hello Penelope I need your help…"

 

****

"Parker?"

"Yes, M'lady?"

"You were listing in on that call were you not?"

"Yes, M'lady. Master John sounded very desperate over the request for a flower. Is it really for TinTin's party you think?"

Lady Penelope shook her head. "I suspect that you might be right Parker that it is indeed for something else."

The elderly ex-con man taps the side of his very prominent Roman-esque nose. "Nothing gets past this, your Ladyship."

The English socialite smiled. "Bring the car around, Parker dear."

"Gladly, your Ladyship."

***

"Virgil,  do I look alright?"

"To be honest Gordon, you look like a dog's breakfast." The second oldest Tracy replied, poking the middle child in the chest. Virgil also towered over Gordon, much like everyone else in the Tracy household though Virgil - an experienced engineer - was also built like a solid brick wall. Once they used to spar for fun, now Gordon wouldn't even dare get in the way of Virgil if he chose to throw his weight around.

"Didn't you sleep at all doing repairs up there?" He asked, rustling his younger brother's hair.

"Sort of. I kept myself busy while John was busy with his job."

"Liar. Bet you both bunked off and watched a bunch of back to back horror movies." Virgil grinned as he reached over his sibling to reach for his razor.

Gordon shuddered. "Just because you and Scott would, doesn't mean me and John would do the same."

"Nah,  not Johnny. Just you mostly." Virgil teased.

"Why am I stuck sharing the same bathroom with you?" Gordon rolled his eyes.

"Because I'm the only one who'll put up with the smell after you've been on a rescue?" Virgil joked.

"Ha ha, Virgil."

"Something bothering you Gordon? Usually you'd be throwing insults back at me." Virgil tried to look his younger brother in the eyes but Gordon was very keen on avoiding his gaze. He reeled back as Gordon threw his shirt at him, frustrated with Virgil's previous answer and realising that indeed he looked appalling.

"Yeah, yeah something is bothering me Virgil. I'm sick of designer clothes and looking like a poser."

Virgil was quick to grab his shorter sibling and turn him around to face him. "Gordon, you're scars…"

"What about them, Virgil? You've seen them before hundreds of times."

Oh damn. 

Virgil pointed at Gordon's chest where one of the bigger, most obvious scars should have been. One that had more than once had to be cut along to get access to his heart and lungs to repair them…one that Virgil had been forced to reopen time and again to save his life. One that Gordon knew you couldn't hide with makeup.

"Your scars, where are they? They were there when I treated your…"

"Shoulder? Yeah, John's got some serious skills with a laser." Gordon lied. "He's  been doing some experiments up on Five with some of the plants and was curious to see if it worked on people. "

"Gordon, you're the creature from the black lagoon. But… if it looks as good as it does on you, you think he'd try on someone else?"

Gordon grinned. "If you ask him nicely Mr. Mechanic." This got him a very playful shove from his older brother who was fairly amused.

"There he is, there's the Gordo I'm used to."

"Never really left. Just overworked and tired is all."

"Well tonight we won't have to worry about any work. Just focus on having a good time."

"With Alan's friends?" Gordon raised an eyebrow. "You're joking. John and I know some from back in University.  Bunch of hot headed morons if you were to ask me."

"And you're not?"

"Since when?" Gordon stuck out his tongue. "I remember this one bloke, who was obsessed with jokes about having sex with fruits and vegetables and…oh no…"

"Oh?"

"I just remembered the guys name. Alan's going to try setting me up with him for a date."

Virgil slapped his brother heavily on the back as he burst out laughing. "Now that is hilarious."

"No, its gross." Gordon pulled a face. "Do I REALLY have to be a part of this party?"

"Yes, Gordon you do have to be here."

Gordon sighed. "Alright. But I'm putting on a loose T-shirt and jeans. To hell with dressing to impress if Alan is setting me up with a man who possibly violates fruit."

And maybe I'll just leave my bruise alone too. Maybe the bloke will think twice and rack off to annoy someone else. I'm not wasting perfectly good concealer on it.

***

John hadn't meant to fall asleep; he was just going to lie down for a moment. Next thing he knew someone was shaking his leg.

"Come on, sleeping beauty. Gotta get up and ready for the ball. " 

"Ow, ow, ow not the ankle Scott!" John sat up grabbing his foot.

"What have you done to it?"

"Sprained it."

"That's not going to get you out of it princess, come on you haven't even showered or shaved."

Rolling his eyes, John snorts and gets off the bed heading into the bathroom to start running warm water in the sink.

"So I know Gordon and I are getting set up, what about you?"

"What makes you think you're getting set up?" Scott asked, leaning against the door frame. John takes note that he doesn't answer his question but lets it go.

"I know Dad and Alan think they're doing what's in my best interest but… I would rather figure that out for myself." John replied as he lathered up his face and ran the razor over it.

"When are you just going to come out and tell them?"

Scott had known John's orientation since he was twelve. When he caught him trying to wash his sheets of his first sweet night dream, it had been confusing and scary having been about Gordon.

Of course he didn't tell Scott who but helped him understand it was normal and there was nothing wrong with him.

Scott promised he wouldn't tell anyone til he was ready to and he'd had kept that promise. Unlike Gordon he didn't have the courage to come out and was proud of him for being brave enough to do so.

"Ah I've got it all planned out, for my speech at Alan and Tintin's wedding, how we went to the strippers and payed for that woman to give me a lap dance and that she leaned over and whispered in my ear, 'Your gay aren't you?'"

"Please don't do that, really don't do that." Scott replied, looking worried.

"I won't." John dried his face off. "I'll save it for the wedding anniversary…" Scott looks at him disapproving. "Now out, I'm going shower. I'll be down soon." 

"Don't be long." Scott turns to leave, shaking his head. Brothers, who needs them?

"Yeah, yeah." John waved him off with a middle finger.

Closing the door behind him he knew it made Scott feel guilty when he saw scars on his back, a reminder he was forever marked. Living with the pain was harder, he couldn’t remember what it was like not to be in pain.

It was the scratches and bruises he was trying to hide from everyone. He had no idea how he would hide those scars in future.Maybe he wouldn't have too if the transformation healed all of Gordon's scars….

Looking in the mirror he didn't look or feel any different it was hard to believe it could happen to him. Gordon had looked fantastic that first time after...Could it do the same for him? Heal him? That he wouldn’t be in pain anymore.

Stop thinking like that! He told himself. You need to cure Gordon and yourself before anything regrettable happens.

He'd translated the pages and Penelope was bringing the flowers, he just needed to get to a lab… he had it all planned.

But if he could only cure one of them he'd pick Gordon everytime -  he had promised him that, hopefully he had time now they weren't so close to the moon and back on Earth. Gordon seemed more back in control… he hoped.

Dressed to impress? After all they rarely got to dress up and John enjoyed it when he could. A final brush down and he headed down to the party.

"Let's see what tonight has in-store."

***

The party was in full swing by the time Gordon made it to the pool area, Kyrano had clearly outdone himself with the decorations and food - everything was incredible from the paper lanterns to the exquisite cuisine. 

And all the guests were dressed….

Gordon inwardly swore. He was very underdressed in his loose Mombassa designed shirt and denims in comparison, along with a necklace with bright coloured beads, several coloured bracelets in neon and a thunderbolt earring dangling from his right ear; things he couldn't wear on rescues. But with how he felt he wouldn't have looked presentable even if he put in the effort.

"Gordon!" He heard his name ring out across the party area. As he turned around a pair of arms flung around him in a big hug. "How are you feeling? When Jeff said you were up and about I was hoping to catch you, but you were faster about getting back to work!"

He returned the gesture, giving TinTin a big squeeze. "We're all good, thanks. You and Virgil have some talent in getting people back on their feet."

Tintin eventually let him go. He was her favourite 'not quite a sibling - sibling' and sure it occasionally made Alan absolutely livid with jealousy but there was also no harm in it. TinTin treated him like a sister half the time so it never mattered in any case.

"Still, I would have liked you to have come and helped me pick out a dress. Sure I love Penny's style but sometimes she's a bit… lavish for my tastes."

Gordon laughed. "She certainly is that and then some. Scotty better watch out if he's chasing her coat tails."

"Well I did honestly give it a go without your help." TinTin twirled around in her outfit. It was a beautiful Mongolian Deel made from silk and satin, the deep colours embossed with gold designs. "Dad of course would have preferred I wear a Baju Kurung but this is all I have left of Mum so…"

Gordon smiled. "Well I think you look stunning, thought I'm not really the one you're trying to impress. Alan's glanced this way four times since you spoke to me by the way."

"Make that five." Tintin giggled, linking her arm around Gordon’s and leading him towards her group of friends. "Plan on bringing anyone special to our wedding?"

"Gee I don't know, TinTin. I know Dad says I can but I sort of gave up on that some time ago."

"You can't be a confirmed bachelor forever, Gordon. That's not your style."

Gordon paused and gave TinTin an honest look. "Honesty TinTin, I don't even know what I'd be looking for anymore. Everyone keeps telling me that I have something in mind and yeah, maybe I did… but not in the way you all think. Not anymore."

TinTin held Gordon's head in her hands and gave him a stern and worried stare. "Really? You were always more than happy to tell me about this imagery tall slender body like porcelain and eyes like sapphires… worried you'll never find him huh?"

"Got to be realistic sometime." Gordon moved her hands away. "Anyway this party is about you and Alan. You're supposed to be having fun, not worrying about the rest of us losers."

"I'll worry about who I damn please." She smiled. "Come on, the girls wanna catch up!"

Gordon sighed. "Alright. Only for you though TinTin. If anyone tries to set me up with anyone I'm immediately out."

After a few minutes of conversation, Gordon excused himself  from the gaggle of ladies, after all there was only so much questioning of his sexual preferences he could take. He usually didn't mind but when you're already highly strung and a part of you is starting to find the people you're in the company of 'appetising' you know you have to book that ticket out of there.

He never understood why others still found it a novelty. Probably because people in the sort of circles they mingle with don't usually meet anyone who's gay that's not some sort of fashion designer or something. Living an isolated existence made you forget that the outside world still went on around you and things that seemed fine when you last touched base are all suddenly fascinating because the world shifted again somewhere bringing up things you thought were done and dusted.

He heard alot of noise to his left. Looking up he could see back at the other side of the pool his youngest brother Alan making his 'Grand entrance', the show off in a bright flame red blazer, white turtle neck and skin tight leather pants - giving his friends and Virgil in his navy suit a high five as he walked past to a round of cheers.

Got to hand it to the squirt, he knew how to pull an audience. 

Behind him, Scott was shaking his head but smiling wearing something far more casual though frankly anything on Scott just radiated confidence and then there was John.

The colours were interesting but on John they just worked. The deep purples and blues of his denim jacket, shirt and vest with white chinos just sung class and high fashion, the 1920's hat with the bohemian sunglasses framed his face and to top it off were a very expensive pair of brothel creepers to complete the ensemble. 

Gordon tried to look away but found his eyes hovering back, watching how much of a peacock his other sibling was to match the rest but still classy and showing how much of a unique individual he was. 

They were all getting along pretty well too, laughing, joking around as if none of them had any cares in the world. Man… Gordon wished he could just shed all the things he'd seen and done with international rescue like his other brothers could.

He was nudged in the shoulder forcing him to turn around. Two of Alan's friends - two people Gordon was hoping weren't going to be on the guest list - were standing there with huge smiles on their faces. Alan, John and himself shared an apartment together while they all went through college, the upside of being all very close in age. The downside though was they had to get used to each other's friends and Gordon was the one who bore the brunt of the jokes and light-hearted harassment from them. Afterall, when you're the oldest you're the stick in the mud - stands to reason right? At least according to these two.

"Hey there fish guts, long time no see!"

Gordon took a step back. "Hey… Peter… Eddie, what's shakin'?"

"Ohh lots! We've got these super cool jobs as roadies for various bands… you know, awesome stuff." The one called Peter grinned, showing off the fact he was missing several teeth.

"Yeah, we also get to sleep with a lot of babes!" Eddie added.

Gordon twitched. "T-that's nice."

"You still a fruit, Scale skin? How's that been workin' for ya?"

"Eddie! Ease up will ya? Besides, even if he wasn't he's still got the looks and the personality of moldy bread."

"Could you just excus-"

"Oh? Too good to talk to your brother's old friends eh? Yeah, I should have assumed you were still a tight arse. Thought we fixed that for ya in the carpark four years ago -"

"Look, seriously happy… happy to run into you fellas but really… really gotta go….I can hear my Dad's friend calling me from the garden. See you around? Enjoy the party!" 

Gordon didn’t bother to see if anyone was watching him as he bolted from the pool area and into the island gardens. He NEEDED to get the hell away.

Gordon never told Alan what his 'Friends' did to him while they were in University. He made sure neither he or John ever found out.

There were few things he was afraid of - sharks, drowning, having his brain come out of his ears, losing John - but none of them were as terrifying as the tourture Eddie and Peter inflicted on him when they learnt he wasn't one of THEM.

He didn't need to check to see if he was being followed. He could hear the bushes and flower beds being crunched by stampeding boots in his wake. They were going to remind him of his 'place'.

***

"Congratulations Alan, you really know how to throw a swinging party!" John says, lighting up a cigarette, while trying to juggle holding his drink as well.

Alan was grinning from ear to ear as he pulled out a lighter and lit his older brother's smoke for him. "Gee thanks Johnny but I can't take any credit for it! It was all Dads and Kyrano's idea! Not as crazy as the stuff you, me and Gordo got up to in college but damn it's pretty close! All we need is drunks naked in the pool and we're really getting this thing on the road!" He laughed cheerfully, slapping John on the back and spilling the drink he held. "You remember the old gang, right? Sure you do! Some are old Nasa buds of ours! Anyway I gotta say hi to everyone so… hey maybe we'll get around to that drinking competition you owe me later?"

And with that Alan was off to mingle, the grand show off that he was.

John grunted when Alan slapped him on the back but he didn't seem to notice, too caught up in mingling. "I'd love to see the look on dad's face." he laughed at the thought of that.

Virgil had shifted away from most of the party guests and picked himself up a champagne glass from the buffet table before perusing the orderves. He had a brief conversation with Scott involving his other siblings - mostly in regards to keeping tabs on them - and deciding that they were grown adults who could sort themselves out without him hovering over them for five minutes, had decided to see what would make him feel less hungry.

John checks his phone but sees no new messages while he is waiting for Penelope to show up, maybe he should ask Virgil about the attack on Gordon in Russia. He wouldn't think that was strange would he? John wasn't sure why he was being paranoid, no else knew what it really was.

He spots Virgil over at the buffet table and makes his way through the crowd. "Hey Virgil, mind if I ask you about something?"

Virgil quickly washed down the prawn he nicked off the seafood platter before turning around to his younger brother. "Sure thing, knock yourself out." He indicated to his sibling with his free hand before leading John further away from the rest of the party guests and out of ear shot. "Before you do, if it's what I think it is," he touched a bruise he could see that was welling up on his brother's neck he wasn't hiding very well. "You're not hurting each other with… guess I probably should come out and say it, you aren't exactly the quietest person when you're feeling frisky John."

Before John could reply Virgil quickly added. "You forget my room is right next to Gordon's." He smiled. "That and I work pretty closely with him more often than not. He always perks right up when he knows he gets to see you, it's like someone's switched on a light inside him. Can't tell you how much that's appreciated even if… it's not ideal. He's been having issues with Dad lately that's getting him down. I'm not about to take that spark away either unless you give me a reason to."

John was speechless. He hadn't at all expected to be called out. "How long… have you known…?" Was all he managed to say.

"Let's see… I figure probably about a year, when you came down after we had the shopping mall catastrophe that left Gordon in bed for several weeks thanks to smoke inhalation. You were a little too keen to spend time with him and that Gordon doesn't watch pornography that I'm aware of." Virgil chuckled. "But I wouldn't be surprised you've been at it longer than that, you guys are pretty good at keeping it a secret at least, until you forget I'm stuck at home with you."

"Not keeping it well enough." Laughs John nervously "But then, you understand how far I'm willing to go for him…" His resolve started coming back. "That's why I want  you to tell me about the last rescue you and Gordon went on.  'Cos I think you saw what attacked him.. but it was so crazy you don't want to believe it."

Virgil gave John a crooked look. "What makes you assume I saw anything? Gordon was the only one of the two of us that could fit down the mine shaft without causing another tunnel collapse to make sure the miners were ok. Once he was in I had as much contact as you did with him until I could get the mole pod in close enough until I had a new tunnel to get them out."

He took a large swig of his drink, quickly putting the glass down empty and reaching for another one to scull. 

"When all the miners emerged, Gordon, who should have been behind them…wasn’t. After several minutes, I went in to look for him and I swear I scoured that mine from top to bottom till I found him." Virgil downed the second drink and fumbled for a cigar. He was shaking as he did so, a clear sign something happened that had shaken the unshakeable rock that he was.

"I see…" The way Virgil was acting said something quite different. "I've seen it too…" John replies, taking a sip of his own drink. "Gordon and I would never hurt each other, but…" John waves it off. "It doesn't matter, I'm going to fix it" 

"I don't know what you're talking about." Virgil took a deep drag of his cigar. "I didn't see who or what attacked him. What I did see… someone or something had dragged him deeper into the mine, past where the miners were….a trail of blood. Alot of it."

Virgil swallowed. "His shoulder was the only thing that gave us any hint that it was some kind of animal. It wasn’t the only injury either. Gordon's body is a network of fresh unhealing scars at the best of times…" he found himself frowning, "Which strangely seem to have vanished." He gave John a very curious look as something Gordon said to him wasn't making sense in his mind but it could wait until after.

"Whatever it was, it had torn up not just his uniform and gear -" he licked his lips nervously trying to think of a less descriptive way of explaining what carnage he saw. "He was sliced right open, John. Not very cleanly either. I must have disturbed it as it didn't get the chance to mangle his insides. He's lucky to be alive."

"John… Do you know something that I don't? I saw Gordon in the bathroom earlier getting ready and every single scar, every single mark was gone. He said you had something to do with it but I know for a fact lasers aren't that advanced. What's going on John?" Virgil asked, his voice dropping low so only his sibling could hear. 

There was a rustling of bushes from the other side of the pool and a loud scream from one of TinTin's friends as someone stumbled out of the gardens and collapsed in a bloody heap.

It was one of Alan's party guests.

Gordon had slipped and fallen as he tried to navigate a rocky outcrop around one of the beaches, landing with several heavy thumps. He was barely lucid when Peter and Eddie caught up with him, both more than happy to add to his injuries.

They were the reason he stopped swimming in college and dropped out of competing in championships. You couldn't swim when you were covered in bruises, had your fingers broken or your knee dislocated.

He never found out why they liked beating him up either. When they threatened to do the same to his brothers if he reported them to anyone…

He thought those days were over a long time ago. Unfortunately having Alan never finding out ment he never stopped being friends with them.

"Eddie, I think he's had enough."

Eddie studied Gordon's face and shook his head. "Nah. One more should do it."

He pulled back his fist for one more strike.

Something stopped him. Huge jaws gripped his arm, a large blood covered snout led up to two very sinister blood shot eyes.

Within seconds the creature had rolled on top of him and started ripping him apart, pulling at flesh and it's tormentors' insides to feast upon what it had been denied since the first change.

It was starving. It craved fresh meat and didn't care where it found it.

Peter stood in shock, unable to move his legs to run. They were petrified to the spot. 

The beast turned to look at him, human innards hanging from it's jaws and let out a growl.

That's when he finally ran, with a werewolf on his heels. Occasionally it would swipe at him and knock him down, pin him and then let him go. The creature was playing with him like a practice target. Peter ran in the direction he recalled the house being and didn't stop to check if the creature was still chasing him.

It wasn’t.  The creature eventually slowed down and started vomiting up it's last meal. When it had finished it lumbered off at a stumble, shifting back into Gordon before he collapsed in a feaverish heap covered in the blood of his attackers. His body couldn't keep up with it, temporarily going into shock before a seizure - both rendering him unconscious lying in the forested area of the island and fully exposing his weakened and sick body to the elements as the temperature had started to drop, his shredded clothing offering little to no protection.

Gordon was dying.

***

John's heart dropped into the pit of his stomach when he heard the screaming, seeing Peter collapse there was only one possibility of what had happened.

He left Virgil without a word and ran off in the direction Peter had come from.

Alan, Scott and their father Jeff ran over to check on the bloke but it was too late. The young man had bled out as he ran, dying from extreme loss.

While Scott and Alan tried to gather the guests to get them inside the house to safety away from the scene, Virgil had run past them and was hot on John's heels, though a bit slower than his more agile, speedy sibling.

Something was wrong, John must know what the hell is going on. Especially because as he passed he could tell the dead man had the same marks on his body that Gordon had on the day of the mine incident.

John could hear someone chasing him but they were falling behind, this could be the worst idea - running head first  into the lion's den.

But he had to do something. Maybe he could lure Gordon away before he hurt anyone else and… then what? 

As he was thinking all this, he suddenly fell and hit the ground, tripping on something. Looking around he was greeted by the sight of what was left of Eddie's body. 

Cold dead eyes stared back at him, his stomach had been ripped open… entrails and blood was everywhere, one of his arms was twisted at an unnatural angle.

The thick smell of flesh blood hit the back of John's nose causing him to start salivating. He reached for the still warm corpse, he could practically taste the sweet flesh.

'What are you doing?!' His brain screamed at him, he jerked his hand away as he did so he felt an awful stabbing pain begin in his ankle, quickly spreading up his leg.

'No this can't be happening' he thought, as the pain spread a rising fever took hold - his whole body shook as John suffered the most intense pain he'd ever felt, he couldn't even scream! He was completely paralysed as the wolf violently tore itself free.

The newborn werewolf sniffed the air picking up something familiar… the scent of his mate. It growed excitedly and raced off in the direction of it.

Virgil came to a halt to catch his breath. Holy shit John was quick for someone who didn't exercise much! He lost sight of his sibling fairly quickly. As he leant against a tree his eyes fell downwards towards his feet… 

Covered in dark red blood was one of Gordon's shoes.

As he picked it up he saw the red trail track deeper into the undergrowth. Slowly bringing himself into a jog, he followed the blood soaked ground until he located the source of the destruction.

Lying on the dirt, covered in blood and sand was Gordon. His clothes were in tatters and he was littered with dark vicious bruises, his small body violently shaking and deathly pale. As Virgil knelt beside him he felt a very weak pulse and was disturbed by how shallow his sibling's breathing was. Upon further inspection despite the scarily life threatening amount of bruises there wasn’t a single open wound on his frame, the blood appearing as if it belonged to someone else.

His brother couldn't have killed someone, heaven's knew but it was clear something attacked whoever had beaten him within inches of his life allowing him to somehow get away.

Least, Virgil hoped.

He removed his shirt, wrapping his trembling sibling up before lifting him with a little difficulty - just because Gordon was shorter than everyone else it didn't make him any lighter, if anything the smaller Tracy weighed in at the same as Virgil when you did the sums - he started to head back to the house at a brisk walking pace as he could feel the way his younger brother's body unnaturally jerked as it internally tried to shut him down, succumbing to the burning hot fever that had taken him hostage.

He'd have to get his other brother's to mount a search for John. Afterall with a killer on the loose his life could be in danger too.

Running on all fours, the wolf quickly picked up the scent of Gordon but someone else seemed to be carrying him, it didn't recognise them as being Virgil, instead as someone trying to take his mate.

He barrelled into Virgil roaring angrily and threateningly sending them both to the ground.

Wait, he stuffed the air again… a sweet sickly smell came to him, the scent of weakness and dying… the wolf turned towards Gordon to put the weak one out of his misery and feast upon him.

Virgil was quick to get back to his feet the moment the werewolf pounced for his younger sibling, charging into it like a human cannonball and wrestling it to the ground, jaws snapping viciously for him until he clocked it solidly in the snout twice, a sickening crack as the creature's head recoiled back and howled in pain.

The beast's neck snapped back into place, already healing. 

This human was strong and the beast wanted to test him, if he was stronger, more worthy than his current mate, who would soon die anyway.

It circled the human looking for an opening roaring a challenge at him.

Panic was rising and a chill went down Virgil's spine as the creature howled, it's golden white fur caked in red clumps of blood a striking visage against the night sky and the darkness of the forestry. 

He took a deep breath as the creature stalked around him, taking care to make sure that he stood between him and his brother. If he had been paying attention he'd have noticed the jerking that was happening to Gordon was his brother fighting another transformation. 

With his attention firmly on the beast, he took up a fighting position. Virgil wasn't one to use violence as such but he did spar a lot with Scott who taught him alot of military moves and while whatever it was WASP had taught Gordon, his little brother turned everything Scott showed him on its head - his younger sibling had taught him how to fight dirty.

The wolf swiped at the human and went to charge, jumping back out of reach at the last moment. It gave a deep throaty growl that sounded like laughing, it enjoyed playing with its new potential mate. But tired of the game it quickly leaped at him, putting all its weight behind it in an attempt to pin the human down and have its way with him.

Virgil was quick to grab the creature's jaws with his bare hands as it went for the throat, wrestling them away as claws slashed deep gouges into his bare torso. He grunted and with all the strength he could muster the solidly built Tracy was able to roll on top of the werewolf and pin it beneath him, grabbing it's arms and yanking them harshly until one of them popped out of it's socket eliciting a howl from the beast before it kicked him off and tossed him into the nearest tree. 

As Virgil scrabbled to get back up, the werewolf made another lunge.

It never made it to it's target. 

Virgil blinked as the creature was being attacked by something not quite animal, not quite human. It managed to toss it aside but before it could attack Virgil the strange amalgamation got between them again, going for the throat of the werewolf.

Gordon had one last bit of fight left.

He looked like a wreck, animal ears on a human head, one arm all beastal as well as one leg and a tail. It was as if his body had no idea what shape it wanted to be. Well it did but Gordon was determined to fight the inner creature with every last breath, aware that if he let it go it would be the last time…hell this was probably going to kill him anyway - maybe dying while fighting wasn't that bad a way to go.

Sinking his teeth into the white tufts of fur around the interloper's neck, Gordon savagely pulled as claws gripped him and tried to tear him apart. He refused to let go, this was his last ditch attempt and he was going to make sure it wasn’t for nothing.

The white wolf savagely tore into the other wolf. It had no chance against them, its teeth not even reaching flesh, the beast tore one of its ears clean off before throwing it off and slowly stalking towards the fallen one.

Smelling their weakness and sweet flesh it wanted to sink its fangs in and feast upon them.

The beast grabs them by the throat ready to deliver the coup de grâce and finally feed on warm soft flesh.

Something heavy slammed down on the creature's snout and then against the side of its head. Virgil had picked up the heaviest chunk of tree branch he could wield and was wildly swinging it at the white beast, slamming it against the creature several times, enough to get it away from the other one.

Virgil could have run. He could have made it for the house and got the rest of his siblings, his pistol…. But the other creature that saved him before was wearing HIS damn shirt! It wasn’t just any monster - it was Gordon!

No way could he leave him here alone with…with this OTHER thing! Even if he had no idea why his younger brother was ….well ok he couldn't explain or make sense of what was exactly going on with him as other pressing matters were at hand…the point was he bloody saved him and deserved to have the favour returned.

Digging into his pants pocket he pulled out his lighter and lit the end of the branch, flames lighting up magnificently on the dry braken. He swung it around in hopes to scare the creature back.

Behind him, Gordon’s body was slowly changing back. Blood was leaking out from puncture wounds on his neck and serious wounds to his chest and stomach. There was no way he was getting up again.

Ears flattened back the beast swiped angrily at the flaming branch snarling as it moved backwards looking for a moment to strike the human. 

It ducked suddenly, risking taking a hit to take their legs out from under them before pounded on them as they fell pinning them but they were still strong and able to push back, stopping their jaws reaching them.

But then it was the beast that was the one falling back letting him go. It roared in pain after a knee made contact with its most sensitive of areas.

John had never felt such blinding anger before, it had been like everything he'd kept inside had suddenly been given an outlet. All of it had fueled the monster he had become as he vented all his unrestrained frustrations on anyone it came near.

His anger towards his dad and Scott, their decisions that had almost led to him losing his life, leaving him with life long chronic pain and no longer allowed to be involved in rescues, now only being a small part of them and alone up in space most of the time.

Things being kept from him, what really happened on some rescues and other things, even Gordon was keeping things, why didn't he tell him he was having problems with their dad? 

Their taboo relationship that they always had to keep secret, if it was so wrong why did it feel so right?

Virgil's knee to groin had shocked him out of those swirling thoughts, god damn it was like a kick from a mule.

The dropped branch had sparked more of the debris on the ground to start being engulfed in flame, the dry bracken and trees giving it immediate fuel as it danced up them and along the branches. The entire forested gardens were on fire within seconds. Virgil clawed his way back to Gordon and in the light of the flames could tell his younger brother's heart had stopped. 

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Virgil's voice boomed loudly as he thumped his brother's chest hard as quickly as he could. "Don't you damn dare!"

A flaming branch fell from the canopy and just missed striking him, forcing him to grab his sibling and try to drag him as far as he could so he could try to administer medical aid. "Shit!" He swore loudly as more flames licked the ground around them, the escape route he had was now blocked. He pulled Gordon close to him and tried to move towards areas where the fire had already burnt out the existing fuel, sure it could always blow back but it was safer than attempting to go towards the house where there was more fuel in the more elaborate and curated gardens than out towards the beach.

Curling his arms protectively around his sibling he could faintly feel the slow heavy dull thump of his heart as it was forcing itself to hang on because Virgil demanded it to.

He hoped like hell John was safe up in the house with the others…. And not out here praying the fire would spare them.

***

"Hey, Virgil… mind if I ask you something?"

Virgil stopped playing his piano to give his younger brother his full attention.  "Is this to do with what I overheard in the kitchen?"

Gordon was stunned. "Y-You heard that?"

Virgil nodded. "Dad was pretty angry.  Surprised no one else heard it too."

Gordon snorted. "What was I supposed to do? Leave that kid in the tunnel to drown? Dad doesn't understand how fast things go from dangerous to deadly and how suddenly you have to think on the fly!"

"We could have also lost you as well, Gordon. Those tunnels were electrified. One misstep and you wouldn't be here having this conversation with me."

Gordon sighed heavily. "I know. But my argument still stands. I'm not going to relent on the fact we're not getting important information as we need it. John has some of the most advanced equipment up there in space and could give us on the spot updates as conditions change to prevent this sort of thing. Instead we're having him relay it to Dad or Scott and by the time they tell us the situation has changed." 

He gave Virgil a pained look. "It's not the first time, Virgil. We've almost lost both you and Alan to this stupidity too. Hell…we've - we've almost gotten John paralysed because of this confusing system. Dad can yell at me all he wants but I didn't have a choice. I HAD to make a decision then and there, I couldn't wait until they fucking made it for me! If I did we'd have lost that kid! We never leave anyone behind, that's dad's damn motto he wants International Rescue to use right? Then I was damn doing the right thing!"

"One day something is going to happen where no one is able to get there in time because they're waiting for decisions that might be bad ones. Worst case scenario it'll be you, Alan or I that'll be killed by it. I don't want that to ever be the case."

Virgil wrapped his arms around his shaking sibling. "I'll have some words with him later. Can't say I disagree with what you've just said, we've had one too many close calls."

Virgil then sniffed. "Is that cologne? Are you finally going on a date with your weekend off?" He grinned, changing the subject.

Gordon smiled weakly. "No, Scott and dad might be flying to Penny's vacation homestead in Australia but I'm still on duty here with you. John may be coming down off his shift but dad's pretty determined that if anything happens while he's away that John's to be in charge telling us what to do."

Virgil raised an eyebrow.  John's coming down off shift huh? So that explains the nice shirt, bracelets and the silver chain around the neck. Gordon barely made the effort to get out of T-shirts and shorts most days, he rarely had any reason to when the only visitors to the island were pretty women who he had zero interest in that were supposed to be here for some business dealings or another. Dad's secondary motive was hoping these ladies would catch one of his son's eyes and while they definitely did for him and Scott, Gordon had retreated further into his own isolated little bubble. To see him suddenly make some sort of effort though was somewhat impressive, Gordon could easily outdo them all fashion wise if he wanted. Heck he was even wearing make up! Virgil suspected he borrowed the stuff from TinTin but now wasn't so sure. Gordon only really used to cover up bruises and scars though occasionally Virgil swore eyeliner was involved too.

It was unfortunate he wasted his efforts on one of his siblings instead of some handsome rich bloke. Though Virgil had to admit the ones they had the displeasure of knowing would probably only want his brother as a side dish to whatever noble woman they married as you had to have some woman as a front to hide you indiscretions while you partied wildly with her permission with any damn man you pleased. He never said anything because not only did his younger brothers deserve better than being some old codgers dirty secret, they weren’t tecnically hurting anyone, hell it was the few times you'd see Gordon smile… John too come to think of it. If that's what it took he wasn't going to interfere… but he was also worried what would happen if Dad was to find out. 

He knew he'd stand in their corner however it played out. They needed to know they weren't alone when the time comes.

Virgil patted him on the shoulder. "Let's just hope it's quiet so we all get a break too. Would be nice not hearing you argue with someone for a few days."

Gordon laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. I just want to spend time with John. Haven't been able to the last few times he's had a shift off, something seems to come up. Maybe all three of us could go see a movie? Dad won't know we've nicked Thunderbird Two for a joyride would he?"

He probably would, Virgil mused. But to hell with it - a movie sounded like a great idea.

***

A large flaming branch fell close to John causing him to yelp and jump away, being covered in fur and in the middle of a forest fire was one of the worst places he could find himself, smoke stung his eyes and choked him.

He heard Virgil's voice above the roaring flames as the beast tried to take control again, and he fought back against it pushing it mentally till he was reasonably human but he could still feel it waiting underneath his skin.

Getting to his feet he headed in the direction he heard Virgil's voice.

"Virgil!"  He coughed, smoke getting into his lungs."Virgil!"

There was a loud crash as something fell and he heard Virgil swear, eventually locating him but what he saw made him feel as if his heart had stopped.

His older brother was cut and bleeding with Gordon in his arms who looked to be on death's door. He rushed over "Is he…? Tell me he's not…?" His voice shook as he asked, afraid of what the answer would be. 

Virgil looked up at John, bleary-eyed and unable to focus. He had lost a lot of blood fighting the creature and moving around in the smoke had started to affect him, as he tried to speak he fell forward to the ground with his death grip on Gordon loosening, allowing John to fully see the damage that was done as his lover's head lulled and showed little to no signs of life.

If John didn’t do something now they would die so he turned and ran back in the direction of the house, he couldn't do this alone needed help.

Scott, Alan, Dad and Tintin were doing their best to keep the flames from reaching the house with jets of water trying to extinguish the fire. When John came running towards them, Scott was the first to spot him.

"John, John!" He runs to catch him. "John what happened? Your clothes? Is that blood?"

"Gordon… Virgil…" John breathed out  struggling to catch his breath.

"Are they hurt? Where are they?" Demanded Scott, giving him a slight shake.

John led them back in the direction he had come to where Gordon and Virgil lay unconscious. As they were quickly getting them up to move them back to the house, John slipped away to attempt to reach it first so he could make it to his room and remove what remained of his clothes and shower.

What had he done? He had definitely caused his siblings wounds, it was the only explanation. When it happened he had completely lost control, a sense of realisation that his brother had fought that urge repeatedly on board the space station gave him some appreciation that his sibling was strong willed until his body couldn't handle it anymore.

He couldn’t give into the sickening rising fear…no, he needed to cure both of them before it was too late yet their only hope were the flowers he'd asked Penelope to bring, if she was ever going to show up at all.

He checked his phone but there were no messages. Where was she? Time was running out.

***
Virgil groaned. His entire body hurt like the time he was forced to crash land Thunderbird Two into the runway of Tracy Island.

It wasn’t a pleasant experience. 

Shifting his weight he slowly managed to sit himself up on his elbows and get a look around the medbay. 

How did he get here? Where was his younger brothers? Didn't he hear John's voice amongst the flames?

"Lie back down Virgil, you need more rest." Jeff gently held him by the shoulders. He had been sitting by his bedside, waiting for him to awaken. He had gotten all the guests safely off the island before going to put the fire out and had reported the murders to the police. He didn't dare think someone at the party nor that his own sons were capable of committing those horrible crimes but someone HAD committed them and he was going to find out who.

"Where's Gordon? Heck where's John? Both of them were in the firestorm with me!" Virgil was panicking, there was no way he was going to let Dad put it all to one side without an explanation.

"John is the reason you're still alive, Virgil. In fact he's been hovering around the sick bay waiting for you boys to recover. It's been a very trying three days."

Virgil gave Jeff a glance and this time took note of how exhausted with worry he was. No doubt he would have been hovering around the medbay as much as he said John had been, their father always wracked with worry when any of them was seriously hurt.

His father then pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing, as if the next thing he was about to tell Virgil was something he was having a hard time to mentally process himself. 

"Gordon is in an isolation pod on life support. Brain's has found traces of something unexplained in his bloodstream which seems to be trying to kill him. With his injuries I'm surprised he's continuing to stay in the fight. I won't lie to you son but I think your brother might not pull through with all the damage to his body unless some miracle happens. He'd been given a beating good and proper and when I find out which of those party guests did this to you both they'll be looking at the world from behind bars."

Virgil hesitated. Did he really want to tell Dad what he had seen? Or more importantly, what it was that attacked him and the state Gordon was in when he tried to save him? Parts of that night were patchy at best but he remembered this large white furry monster of a thing, himself hitting it more than once…. And that somehow against all sanity Gordon had got up to get between him and looking like some sort of B - movie horror creature reject to attack the thing as well…

All evidence suggested his brother was unable to do that - but he had.

He decided against mentioning it but now things John had said were starting to fall into place. It was like holding onto pieces of a jigsaw and he'd been handed a corner but had no idea where to put it.

"That's why I want  you to tell me about the last rescue you and Gordon went on.  'Cos I think you saw what attacked him.. but it was so crazy you don't want to believe it."

 "I've seen it too…. Gordon and I would never hurt each other but… It doesn't matter, I'm going to fix it." 

John KNEW about that creature this ENTIRE TIME. Heck he probably knew exactly what the hell possessed Gordon too.

He was going to get to the bottom of it before their dad did.

Lady Penelope did eventually arrive for the party though it was well and truly 'lit' by the time Parker unloaded FAB Two. She insisted she would take all the guests onto the boat and have Parker take them back to land into the safe custody of the police in Sydney.

She didn't want to think about her close friends being attacked the way they had been but her nose for investigating was definitely itching as something else was going on that was more serious than just murder and arson. John's reaction to the flowers she brought and placed in a jar beside Gordon's isolation pod was concerning too since he was the one that asked her to bring them.

Eventually, she got him alone long enough to find out why.

"Let's see if I got all of it John. Those flowers are some sort of cure but you can't touch them without burning your hands? That doesn't make much sense to me."

"I shouldn't have been surprised." John replied, rubbing his bandaged hands. The reaction he had was unbelievable.

No sooner had he touched the flowers his hands started to feel as if they were on fire leaving him with angry red whelps.

"Well I could help you out…. But you'd have to do me a favour."

"Name it. " John really hoped he didn't sound too desperate even though he really was.

He looked terrible after three days of little to no sleep, not just from being sick with worry but the wolf having very different activities in mind, which had forced him to avoid Scott and Alan as much as possible.

Why was this affecting him so quickly back on Earth away from the direct light of the moon, maybe it was because he was exposed to it daily on the station and had absorbed it. 

The only upside was that his injuries had completely healed, and for the first time in a long time he was pain free, he was still taking his prescription though, going through withdrawal on top of everything else wasn't something he could deal with right now.

But whatever was causing it to progress faster, he knew he couldn't go on like this for much longer, so yeah whatever, Penelope was asking, he was going to do.

"I need some help with my Grandfather's cattle station back in Australia. We're having a few problems with the current Jackaroos and wouldn't mind some extra hands. It would also give you and Gordon a proper vacation as your brother Scott was telling me neither of you ever take proper time away. The break will do you both good."

"Oh" Not at all what John was expecting. "I don't think it will be hard to convince Gordon, once he's better of course."

"Of course." Penelope smiled. "Now explain to me what needs to be done."

John had downloaded everything to his phone but they needed to borrow some lab equipment. With Brians occupied watching Gordon's vitals, it was easy to sneak in unseen.

It wasn’t difficult to extract the chemical components just impossible for John when he couldn't touch the flowers - even the smell of them he found difficult to stand.

Thank god for modern day advances, the way in which the book described it would have taken days if not weeks. Instead it only took several hours til John believed they finally had something that matched the descriptions.

The only thing left to do now was test it…

Penelope watched as John injected some of it into his own arm and within seconds he was on the laboratory floor in convulsions. She was quick to open her powder case phone to call Scott and Jeff to help her deal with a potential case of poisoning.

John stopped moving and Penelope feared the worst, she reached down to check he was still breathing, when he suddenly grabbed her wrist his features had become inhuman sharpened teeth, ears pointed, a layer of hair on his face and clawed nails. 

He viciously snarled at her, before collapsing his grip loosening as he did and his features returned to normal. For a moment, it looked like the curse was easily lifted before the convolutions started up again.

Penelope moved herself behind the lab bench and watched in horror as bones and muscles fought to reshape themselves underneath John's pale skin.

His veins felt like he had injected liquid fire into them but the beast wasn't going down without a fight, his back arched as a howling scream ripped from his throat and the wolf broke free smashing the closest beach, as it clutched its head roaring in pain the fur started falling from one of its arms. The wolf looked at it and the fur began growing back but only for a moment as greater clumps of it fell until a human arm was revealed. 

Angry and frustrated, the wolf savaged the hand taking the last two fingers off, it roared in pain and crashed into another beach sending beakers, flasks and petri dishes smashing onto the floor.

The wolf clawed at the wall with what was left of its claws smearing it with blood. There were two loud cracks before the wolf fell to the floor as its knees reversed and paws became human feet again.

More fur shedded as muscles and bones reformed, it pawed at its muzzle with now human hands mouth bleeding fangs felling out of gums, blue eyes rolled into the back of its head as what was left of the wolf fell limp on the floor, reshaped bones and muscles settled back into their former shape, as the last of white fur fell out or disappeared back into skin.

Penelope had spent the entire time cowering behind the bench. When the sounds died away she hesitated before peeking her head around it to see John lying unconscious on the floor, his clothing shredded and blood pooling from his left hand. She cautiously moved across the floor to check on him just as heavy footsteps reached the laboratory door. 

"What in the world is going on here?" Jeff demanded. Tonight was meant to be a simple party and it had turned into absolute chaos, with two people dead, one son injured and another one hanging on for his life. 

Make that three sons for the infirmary. 

"What happened Penelope?"

"I… I'm not quite sure Jeff." She stammered. "He said it was to test a cure but I'm not sure what just happened… happened."

"Meaning?"

"Never mind. I might just be in shock." She admitted, hoping it had been her imagination. 

"Well we better take John to the infirmary and look at that hand. Maybe make sure you're ok too, Shock can be nasty if untreated."

Penelope nodded. "Of course Jeff."

***

John groaned as the light that stung his eyes along with the pounding headache that greeted him. 

Putting a hand to head he hissed as he pulled it away to see his left hand was bandaged, looking about he finds himself in the infirmary, with no recollection of how he got here except for the bad memories of being in the hospital after the accident that almost killed him.

He threw the bed covers off and was about to pull out the IV drip as he really didn't want to stay a minute longer but was stopped as two big heavy hands rested hard on his shoulders.

"Where do you think you're going?" Virgil's exhausted voice growled. "Leave that in and lie back down before you end up unconscious on the floor."

John pulls the covers quickly back over, he was in nothing but a hospital gown. "Come on Virgil, you know I hate hospitals stayed in them long enough for a lifetime" Trying to lighten the mood.

"No excuses, John. I saw your head scan.  You're not going anywhere." Virgil grunted. "Besides,  you'll have to explain what happened to dad if you go out there and his mood right now is 'Cyclonic.'"

John went even more pale if that was even possible. "What do you think the chances are of me making it out that window?"

"Minuscule."

"Ahh I don't think he's the only one who does?"

"Think of it this way," Virgil's deep voice was like hot melted chocolate. "Myself and Penny are less likely to lose the plot over it." He glanced up and saw Penelope nodding. 

On the other side of the room where various machines were beeping there was a strangled yelp followed by panicked groans, the noise from the machines getting louder until Virgil left John's bedside and headed over to try and talk to Gordon to get him to calm down. Even inside the pod, he was hanging on but every shiver, shake and involuntary muscle spasm was sending his body crazy as it attacked itself. Virgil fiddled with a few of the drips and checked other things before eventually the noise from them started returning to normal. 

"John." He spoke quietly as he turned around. "You have to tell someone what's happening, what's going on. If… if not…"

Virgil glanced back at Gordon briefly longer than anyone in the room felt comfortable before looking back at John, his dark brown eyes boring holes into his younger brother. "Gordon is going to die."

He wanted to go over there but the look from Virgil held him in place.

Did he go through all this for nothing? Was Gordon going to die? He had told him it was going to be ok, he would be here for him, but what use was he if he couldn't save the one person he cared about more than anyone, the thought almost broke his heart.

"John, Gordon got between me and some bizzare creature… out there in one of Kyrano's gardens… but it wasn't quite well…Gordon, if you catch my drift. I thought I was seeing things until after that -that thing went for his throat and I saw his body change.." Virgil seemed to be trying very hard to recall what he had seen.

Penelope then decided to add, "After that strange liquid I helped you make, you didn't really stay human either." She hesitated, she didn't expect the look of shock from Virgil's expression as she inadvertently shoved John metaphorically under a bus. "When you collapsed I thought you had poisoned yourself until your face…" she swallowed. "Your face changed."

There was no getting out of anything now if John had to take the blame for everything that was fine… as long as Gordon got the cure that was the only thing that mattered. "Promise me no matter what, you will give the rest of the cure to Gordon."

"Cure? John, I don't think whatever the hell supernatural weirdness that's going on HAS a cure." Virgil swallowed hard. "Does it?"

"It really is something you have to see to believe it, but it is real, it's really bloody real." John couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. "I tested it first, no way would I have risked it being used on Gordon, otherwise." he looked at Penelope. "And… it did work?"

Penelope shrugged. "Is there anything that would trigger it in order to find out?"

John thinks about it. "Well, Gordon was triggered by moonlight, but that's not how I was…"

Virgil's eyes narrowed. "Dare I ask?"

"We would have to go to a morgue." John finally replies, swallowing hard as he does.

"You mean those two dead bodies in cold storage that Dad put there until the police arrive?" Virgil's expression was confused. "I know you didn't kill them…but really?"

"I don't really know why Virgil, I thought I had time especially off the station without being exposed to the moon rays every twelve hours to find this cure and test before.. before … Gordon ever found out…"

"Well they won't let me leave the infirmary but Penelope might be able to take you. If what you said is true, you really did a number on me for them to tell me I can't go far."

John looks away ashamed. What kind of person was he? Mamming one of his brothers and almost killing another, it didn't matter it wasn’t really him…he wasn't in control, he had contributed. "I… I don't even remember, it's like I blacked out… all your anger and frustration makes it stronger… feeds it… I didn't even know I had all that in me…" he put his uninjured hand over his face. Being forced to face himself was one of the hardest things, he never knew he was this kind of person.

"Give me a minute and I'll unhook you. But promise me you'll come back here to rest afterwards before Dad finds you and loses his shit." Virgil headed over to him and carefully removed the IV drip that was helping keep him hydrated as after so long in space John's body had been struggling to absorb water let alone anything else.

Penelope stood up and brushed herself off. "We'll use my cloaking device to get around. Stay close and lead the way." She pulls out what looks like lipstick and twists it, causing her to vanish. As she touches John's arm he vanishes too.

Virgil took a seat beside Gordon as the door closed behind the two invisible cloaked figures and slumped heavily in the chair. Like Gordon he was constantly doing grunt work in rescues and while Alan and Scott were too to some degree, they were at least getting breaks in between or the more easier jobs. Stress was showing in everything he did, even painting or playing music wasn’t helping him relax anymore to the point he was barely able to bring himself to sit on the stool in front of either the keys or an easel. He knew John could see the dark rings under his eyes at the party, everyone else did.

He knew Gordon had also been feeling it, withdrawing from everyone, not even remotely touching his guitar or going surfing anymore, too physically and mentally tired to do either.

That's why he never did anything when he found out about his brother's little secret. That energetic ball of hyper activity that was almost dead came sparking back to life, even if it was brief and short lived. What else was there though? Watching the most mischievous Tracy become someone who could barely function was a sign something was wrong with how everything was being run.  The only one who was still keen, still mentally driven to put one hundred percent into everything he did despite everything suggesting he shouldn't be able to was John and it was worrying him now that his other younger sibling was spiralling downward, very determined to keep secrets from him.

Thing is… if John starts to shut everyone out things will start falling apart alot faster than they had been… especially if what he was saying was true about this… 'werewolf' thing. He'd have to figure out how to keep Dad from finding out about the full truth as if John was to be taken away…

The rest of them would start to fail to stay functional without him.

***

It was a very strange thing to walk right by everyone unseen. John loosely held Penelope's wrist as he led the way to the cold storage, it had been somewhere he had visited often in the last three days as he had been hungry for raw meat. He hadn't had such a ravenous appetite since he was a teenager.

He'd had enough self control to keep away from the two recently deceased but someone might wonder why inventory was mysteriously lower.

John had already noticed his senses seemed duller, standing in the storage now nothing smelled deliciously appetising anymore but they best be sure this wasn't temporary. "Penelope I just wanted to say I'm sorry that I dragged you into all this."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, John." Penelope smiled. "You didn't try to attack me, I just happened to be collateral." She chuckled as his face screwed up unamused by her response. "Virgil had worked it out a little while ago while you were asleep, saying your scars had all gone just like Gordon's had before the party but he waited for you to confirm it to be sure. He's really good at playing dumb when he wants to be. We know you didn't kill these boys, though Virgil is worried Gordon might have especially after Alan admitted he didn't invite them, they tagged along with other friends of his."

"Apparently they had a falling out after college when he found out they had been beating up your older brother, though he didn't say how. Since you all shared an apartment while you all studied I assumed it would have either been from you telling him or the building's security." Penelope gave one of the bodies a poke and grimaced. "If your brother has the same thing as you and they got to him I wouldn't blame him for defending himself. I would certainly have. Unfortunately I don't think the words of Virgil, Alan and yourself might be good enough to get him out of being done for murder."

"Maybe we should have dealt with it better but at the time we just wanted to in a way that they wouldn't have a reason to seek retribution." John sighs. "Growing up it was mostly just the five of us until college, I'd never known other people could be so judgemental. After their reaction to Gordon coming out, I was too afraid to myself. I should have backed him up…" 

"Well, it's possible. Though I have honestly been on the wrong side of Gordon's temper before and would be the first to tell you that if he really doesn't like you he REALLY lets you know about it." Lady Penelope admitted. "Heart on his sleeves which can be a dangerous thing."

John stepped closer to the body bag and put his hand on the zip. "Maybe you should step back."

Penny shrugged. "It's not like I haven't seen a dead body before.  I've certainly created my fair share of them in my line of work."

"It's not you seeing a body that worries me." John replies.

Penny pulled back her jacket to reveal a pistol. "I'm sure I can manage, John dear."

John carefully unzipped the bag. The smell of burnt flesh was enough to make him gag. It was what was left of Eddie's body, burnt in the fire that swept through the forest.

He closed the bag quickly on the charred blacked corpse, having seen enough. 

"Better be sure." He unzipped the second bag, Peter's body was in a much better condition having made it back to the house before passing.

Looking at him now he didn't feel like he had when first seeing them recently deceased, instead he felt something quite different. He slammed a fist onto the table, "You fucking arsehole!" He yelled before he could stop himself. "What was your fucking problem?! Should have made you pay back then!" 

These guys and the shit they done to Gordon… hell now he might be held accountable for their murder! How was that right? How was that fair?

"Hey, you seen Gordon, John? Only he was supposed to meet us here at the arcade a few hours ago."

John looked up from the pinball machine that he had been invested in to look up into the face of his younger brother Alan who was very worried.

"I'm sure he's on his way, Alan. You know that he's alway late after swimming practice. Honestly if he doesn't get into the Olympics again this year I'd be damn surprised, he's worked his butt off to earn it."

Alan still wasn't convinced. "Could you just ring him and make sure?"

John rolled his eyes. "FINE." 

He reluctantly pulled himself away from the machine, slightly annoyed he was forced to miss out hitting a high score and called Gordon's holophone. Even if he was still in the pool there was a high chance someone in his brother's swim squad would answer it.

The call rang out. "He must be on his way. If he's not answering he's probably driving." 

"I don't know… something feels wrong. It's been three hours."

John had to admit Alan was probably right. "Maybe he went home to shower first? We can try calling the apartment. If he's there the phone automatically picks up."

Alan pouted. "I hate how it does that. You could be on the friggin' can and you're forced to answer a call."

John laughed. He remembered the last time dad called and that happened to Alan. It was the most hilarious thing Scott had told him afterwards. "Yeah unfortunately that's how all the holophones in the building are. It's for safety so they can locate where everyone is in the building incase of a fire."

"I know. It doesn't mean I HAVE to like it."

Smiling, John called the apartment with the full expectation that Gordon probably wasn't there but probably stuck in traffic somewhere.

The holophone immediately picked up and of course Alan's immediate reaction to what he saw was, "John! Put the damn blur filter on! Gordon's in the bathtub!"

John was about to when it dawned on him Gordon hadn't given them his usual smart arsed greeting when shit like this happened with the autocall. In fact his older sibling's hologram barely seemed to move.

"Hey Gordo, everything alright there? You're not crying in the bathtub over not making the team are ya?" He said teasingly in hopes to provoke a reaction.

One never came.

Frowning John enlarged the hologram image on his phone for his own curiosity and the realisation that Gordon was still fully clothed but very awkwardly sprawled in the bath, as if he'd fallen into it backwards. He heard Alan gasp as he could also see the blood all over the bathroom wall and floor, something that was hard to see in the hologram of Gordon thanks to his tanned skin making it difficult to make out.

Both of them were quick to flag down a taxi to get to the apartment as fast as possible, John tapping into the apartment's holophone security system that would have kicked in as Gordon set foot in the door.

Both Tracy's saw their older sibling stumble in and collapse against the nearest wall, pushing himself up while streaking blood along it as he tried to desperately get to the bathroom. From the footage it looked like not only had someone beaten him up but they had also dislocated his shoulder and bent every finger in the hand on that arm backwards. It hung limply from his frame as he hobbled along using the wall to remain upright. When the footage swapped to him entering the bathroom Gordon had slipped on the bathroom mat, hit the wall and as he regained footing he stumbled backwards into the bathtub where he lay unconscious until they called.

Someone wanted Gordon out of the running for the Olympics. At least, that's what they thought at the time.  It was only until after Gordon joined WASP did John and Alan find out what was really going on. Their brother never once mentioning it but after spending hours hacking into the entire buildings security holographic footage for one of his final college assignments to show how good he was at coding, John found more disturbing footage that once Alan saw it meant the extermination of said friendships and association with Peter and Eddie… with a punch to the face for good measure as Alan was pretty livid and is just as hot headed as their eldest brother Scott.

Penelope's hand rested on his shoulder. "Yelling at the dead won't solve anything." She gave both corpses a look over before adding, "If neither of you can shape shift anymore they can't pin this on you. These injuries are clearly made by an animal, not with a weapon." She pointed out some not so obvious wounds where it looked like something had eaten the flesh and tore it apart. "Even here where it's difficult to tell, you can see teeth marks on the bone - are you alright John?" She asked as the blonde Tracy darted away to throw up in a slop bucket.

John wiped his mouth "I think the cure passes the test." Suddenly he picked up the sound of footsteps. "Someone's coming." He rushed back to Penelope's side as she re-engaged the cloak just as Scott walked in.

"Hello?" Scott looks around confused. 

John took Penelope by the wrist and led her back out the door.

"Could have sworn I heard…" Scott said as he turned to leave, locking the door behind him… just as John and Penelope slipped by and headed back to the infirmary.

***

It had been a long evening. Alan had only just taken over from John and when he had touched down only himself, TinTin, Dad and Kyrano were home. Everyone else had been sent out on an emergency call to a landslide in Nepal. John watched the banter from the wall mounted video screens the communication between his three older brothers, sometimes things getting very heated between the eldest ones forcing their Dad to step in to remind them that the more they argued, the more likely the emergency oxygen their other sibling had taken down the hole that was now flooding was going to be a wasted effort. Gordon could be heard instead repeatedly talking over and over into a translator so the children trapped down there who only spoke Maithili could understand him. It wasn’t easy as many of the kids probably spoke several different dialects and the machine was only programmed to translate one of them. The children were terrified and it was incredible how calm his sibling had to be, knowing full well that the others were floundering around outside the air pocket trying to get to them. 

John knew if he could take them out himself he would. Unfortunately Thunderbird Four wasn't big enough nor had enough air supply to transport seven kids out of the hole in the same way Gordon had gotten in. It was rare he got to witness rescues the way the others on Tracy Island had to - it was just as disconnected…maybe even more so than when he was updating them with the situation up onboard the space station.

He recalled when his brother's returned how Virgil came and got him as soon as they had touched down. After retrieving Gordon after the rescue was complete his sibling hadn't left the submarine and Virgil couldn't seem to get him to open up the hatch to get him out.

The only communications to the inside of the rear of the submarine were audio only so neither Virgil or John could see what Gordon was doing in there but they didn't need to. From his voice alone they could tell their brother was having a mental breakdown. 

Those seven kids were the lucky ones. There were at least six more who had been trapped with them before they got there who had unfortunately drowned despite the other children's efforts to get them out into the bigger section of the uncollapsed school building.

When the survivors were out Gordon had gone back to retrieve the dead. It left him incredibly shaken at the time, Virgil allowing his sibling to stay in the submarine on the way home so he could have space to get his head in the right place.

He probably shouldn't have. It gave his younger brother time to dwell on it and mess his head up further.

Trying to talk Gordon around wasn't the most pleasant experience John had ever had. For one he had never heard Gordon in tears before and some of the stuff that was said Virgil was very quick to tell John to never repeat to anyone else, not because it was easier to cover it up and pretend he didn't say those things but more along the lines of if Dad found out he'd send him off island for some pretty intense psychiatric treatment and after the last time that was done for Virgil himself he was not only a lot worse but without his brother's closely support network he had made a few attempts on his own life he wasn't proud of. If it was enough to do that to the most unshakeable of them all there was no way Gordon would be coming out the other side of that.

John recalled watching his closest sibling like a hawk for several days, though Gordon did act as if nothing had happened once he finally caved in to leave the submarine. 

However the night before John was scheduled to relieve Alan from his post they had been in the middle of a 'farewell romp' when half way through his brother suddenly emotionally shut down. He couldn’t forget how his brother was above him, his heart open, exposed and falling apart. He had been trying so hard to hang in there because John was giving him a reason to do so and knowing he was going to be gone for a month or two… 

"John… if something were to happen to me… what would you do?"

"What do you mean Gordon?" 

His sibling sat up, pulling John onto his lap and holding him close, bare arms around him tight not wanting to let go.

"Just answer my question, please John. It's important."

"I-I don't think I can. I don't want to consider it." John felt his brother's head resting on his shoulders. "Why this all of a sudden? Why now out of all the time we've  had to have a serious conversation?"

There was a gentle snort as Gordon loosened his grip. "Don't worry about it." His voice was a whisper. After a moment or two he kissed John softly on the lips before holding his face so they were staring each other in the eyes. "Just promise you won't forget me."

John smiled. "Kinda hard when you're deep within me."

Gordon’s eye's rolled. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"I know. It's just not like you to be so serious." John teased, playfully kissing his cheek.

"Because you don't let me Johnny."

"Well why should I? You're always at your best when you're being mischievous."

Gordon sighed. "One day John… just only need one day to ask something important…"

"And you will, just not now when we're in the middle of something." John kissed him. "Besides, thinking that means having to think about how temporary things are between us, especially if anyone finds out or Dad finally finds someone to blind date who we hit it off with. I don't want to think about any of that when you know…. We're sort of in the middle of committing a huge sin?"

"Temporary?"

"Unfortunately… if everyone gets their way."

"Guess we better make it last as long as we can then." Gordon purred, trying to dismiss the thought from his mind. He didn't mean to wipe the silly smile off John's face and was feeling guilty that he had. Instead he just dropped the subject and pushed John back and started to tickle him until he burst out laughing before returning to spoiling him. 

Gordon never brought up his mortality ever again. John hadn't realised at the time how much that had hurt him as from that point onwards he constantly thought things were going to one day end, despite being told and all other evidence otherwise… heck he knew his brother's biggest fear was having to give him up… but if he had to do it he'd rather be the one to hand his sibling to someone worthy of him, not just someone who found John a pretty trophy that was worth a fortune.

He wished he had that conversation now. Gordon's lifesigns were not doing so well, going from dangerously slow to violently rapid as his body struggled with taking the cure being dripped into him. There was every chance he wasn't going to survive the next few hours.

Virgil put a hand on John's shoulder while Penelope squeezed his good hand. 

"This is the hard part." Virgil's voice rumbled. "You said the stuff in the cure was potentially toxic. Do you know when we need to stop it before it poisons him completely?"

"No." John replied "Maybe it's the same dosage I took, or we scan our bloods and compare the results."

As the machines started their shrill cry again, Virgil moved from John's side as he immediately noticed something was definitely wrong. Gordon's fragile frame started to convulse, the sound from his throat quite sickening as if he was choking. Then the machine screeched a long single tone.

"JOHN!" Virgil shouted, his voice barking out his brother's name as if it was an order. "Wheel that defibrillator over and hurry! Penny, disconnect the drip!"

It took a moment for John's brain to kick into gear, grabbing the defibrillator and dragging it over to Virgil who had already started compressions.

John then went to find a vial of adrenaline and a needle, trying to do it all one handed was incredibly difficult he used his mouth as a not quite substitute and somehow managed to draw it up.

Hopefully they didn't need it.

John had never had the pleasure of seeing the extensive knowledge Virgil had as a first aid responder, though mildly aware that while they all had some basic skill in it, Virgil had taken more of an interest as he found the human body just as interesting as that of a machine. Sure engineering was his speciality but he seemed to excel here too jumping between machines, ordering John and Penelope about as he managed to get Gordon's condition to stabilise.

They hadn't noticed the doors to the infirmary swing open as Jeff and their other brother's poured in along with TinTin and her father until Virgil was quick to ask Penelope to escort them out. Last thing he needed was more people to get in the way.

"John, I need gloves, a scalpel -" Virgil started rattling off a list of surgical tools and then asked him to scrub up as he needed him for an extra pair of hands.

He knew he'd have to get in there and fix his brother's heart again. John would just have to find out the hard way how much damage endless rescues and everything else had done.

"Penny! Tell Dad we need a surgeon! I'm going to have to do a patch up job but we're going to need a professional!" Virgil shouted as the others had been shooed out. "John, this is going to be VERY messy and unorthodox…but it'll be enough until an expert arrives."

John pulled a cart over next to Virgil with all the things he asked for, he might only have the use of one hand but it wasn't an excuse not to do everything he could.

All his brothers had been injured multiple times over the years on rescues but he'd never been there first hand like this. 

He tried to steady his nerves and be his usual level headed self but this was maybe the most terrifying as he was partially responsible for the condition one of his brothers was now in.

"Ready?"

Virgil pulled on the gloves as John brought him and nodded, picking up a scalpel and cutting into his younger brother's chest along where he was used to seeing a healing scar which was no longer there. This was the third time he had to do this and it had him worried that Gordon's heart might just be beyond saving and may need a donor one… something he wouldn't live long enough to receive. After carefully giving it a quick examination he exclaimed, "That's odd. That valve and that one I know were in bad shape the last time I had to do this. There's no sign of collapse… " he gave John a look. "This strange regeneration of damaged tissue wouldn't happen to be part of the 'beast thingy' would it?" 

"When it first happened Gordon was in the elevator, It plummeted to the ground floor, and he came out without a scratch."

Virgil looked at John confused. "What?"

"The first time Gordon changed after all his scars were gone, so were mine… there is some kind of cell regeneration, Virgil. My back is completely healed."

"Back up… what happened in the lift?" Virgil said carefully, aware John was keen to skip over that detail. "If the lift failed… that's instant death!" He glanced at the monitors. "As for your back, I'll be the judge of that. We'll do a few X-rays and we'll know for sure. Slip discs don't magically heal themselves… but then… neither do heart surgery scars." He grunted. "At this rate it's impossible to believe my eyes without thinking this is all a dream… it isn't one though as if it was my arms wouldn't be diving into Gordon’s chest cavity right now!"

"I don't know what to tell you Virgil but for the first time in years I don't have any pain."

Virgil handed John the medical tongs that were being used to allow him access while he desperately tried to find where the problem was. It wasn’t as if he was ignoring John, it was that something more important was demanding his attention. "Fuck… it's not what I was expecting." He mumbled, his brown eyes darting around. "John, how familiar are you with the human heart?"

John looked confused. "Not very. Most of the medical books I've read are out of date." He peered over to try and work out why Virgil was asking such an odd question. 

"Well for a start these veins here… shouldn't be there, nor should the aorta be that shape and in that position." Virgil carefully pointed them out. On the surface it looked like any other human heart though Virgil was able to notice the subtle differences, especially after seeing it a few times. "This… this is canine. Sure there's not alot of difference but it's… it's still substantial as I now can't tell where the problem is or tell if anything is…"

Virgil frowned and reached for a few different tools and carefully made a few incisions. "Ah. Now that… that makes more sense. This chamber is contorted, see here… like it doesn't know if it's human or canine hence the bit here not connecting to this valve here…"

A lot of what Virgil said next was lost on John who was not only trying to not be sick but also trying to work out how the hell a canine heart was still inside his brother's regular body.

"Right.. that should do it. But there is no way he's going to be allowed to do anything seriously strenuous anymore… not if I have a say on it." He gives John a look. "That means not pushing it when you're fooling around too, John. Not unless you want him having a heart attack."

As Virgil started tidying up ready to close Gordon's chest, he added, "I'm concerned that the cure only did half the job it was supposed to. His body might be either too damaged or badly infected for it to do its job." When everything was done he removed his gloves and checked his brother's pupils which were no longer surrounded by the warm caramel brown iris they were known for but instead were a honey coloured luminous hue. 

"We better get our story straight before it's our turn to be questioned by the police about those bodies. They're going to be asking a lot of questions long before Gordon comes to." Virgil sighed heavily. "If he comes to. I don't want to be the one pulling any plugs out."

John can't help looking mortified. "I'm not an animal Virgil, I can control myself and don't say that this is not how Gordon’s going to go out, he's stronger than this I know it!" He replies, taking one of Gordon's hands in his.

Virgil was tired from arguing. "John, Gordon has taken a serious beating and a dangerous hit to his immune system all at the same time. Who knows what will happen from here and if what I've just done will make a difference. I've seen him pull through alot over the years but this… this is different. This isn't like the hydrofoil crash from that race he was in that put him out for three months. This… this could be longer and more permanent." Virgil's voice had a slight wavering in its tone. Sure, he wasn't as close in age to Gordon as John was, however they did spend a lot of time in each other's company and a lot of time having to rely on one another to not let the other die. 

You sort of have a very unique relationship with someone when you've walked along the tightrope of death with them.

John had been doing his best to hold it all together but Virgil was making the true reality of Gordon's condition really hit home. 

"John, if something were to happen to me… what would you do?"

He may be forced to soon answer that question. 

He felt his knees start to buckle as he fell over Gordon, an inhuman mournful sound ring out from John that was between a wail and a howl. It was an eerie heartbreaking sound that seemed to affirm John was changed by all this, that he'd never be the same again.

He couldn’t stop himself shaking as he cried uncontrollably from emotions finally spilling over, what would he do, if he lost Gordon? He still couldn't answer that, how could he?

Virgil picked up his brother and held him tight as he sobbed, his own tears landing on John's shoulders. He didn't like seeing any of his sibling's like this, fighting to stay alive… nor did he like to see any of them in emotional distress. Unfortunately this time he couldn't keep himself together, the big guy's body wracked with sobs.

Scott had entered, leading the surgeon in that he had been asked to pick up from an airfield in Auckland and paused, telling them to wait.

He walked across to his two brothers and hugged them. "He'll get through this. Come on… Alan's been outside that door balling his eyes out too." Scott let out a heavy breath. "So have.. Dad and I. We heard all the machines going… shit Dad's even…look… let's let this lady do her job… and deal with whatever is coming together."

***

It was a few weeks til Gordon regained consciousness, John was relieved and ecstatic to finally see him awake although he wasn't there at the time having had to go back on shift.

He was shocked to see how different he looked, especially his eyes and general change in appearance. His slow recovery started to make John doubt he would ever be the same in more ways than one.

Guilt started to set in that he should have done everything differently, he should have contacted their father, Scott, Brains - someone when it first happened even if they had thought he should be thrown in asylum. 

Brains would have found the cure in no time and it all never would have come to any of this, he had almost fuckin killed him! How could he face Gordon now, he had completely failed him.

So he refused to leave the station where he could keep his mind occupied and not have to dwell on it all. Where it was easy to dismiss everyone's concerns and worries as their work was so important.

Even with mostly everything returning to normal, any sort of underwater rescue had been deferred to WASP whenever something serious came up. It wasn’t ideal, Jeff would have preferred not to admit there was something they couldn't do but there was no one else with any knowledge to operate a submarine, let alone know the risks and underwater dangers to the extent Gordon did to take his place.

It also lead to former colleagues at WASP getting curious as to what was going on with International Rescues most famous underwater craft - they weren’t certain who the Aquanaut who controlled it was thanks to how Jeff was with able to keep all his son's identities anonymous but they were suspicious that something was wrong with them.

Afterall, all the other rescue craft seemed to be in operation and seen in public quite often doing what they did best. It didn't make sense that one of them was out of commission or retired from service.

Whenever they could, Virgil, Scott and Alan would give John not just updates but short holographic videos whenever Gordon was awake.  You could tell he was struggling but determined to keep in the game, the brain on the mend faster than the body was able to manage. 

The one thing he really wanted though, was to talk to John longer than ten or fifteen minutes before zoning out or feeling like he just suffered a lot of jet lag. Those recorded replies he got in return were what was keeping him from simply giving up and giving in to endless sleep. He'd happily listen to his sibling's voice just talk about astronomy, read books on quantum physics.. heck even old instruction manuals for the communications software on how to operate Thunderbird Five… he just needed to hear John.

In one way being via hologram ment John couldn't see him clearly. It was a small relief as his right ear wasn't healing as it should, he couldn’t see how awkward it was to talk with teeth that shouldn't be there and his eyes… oh man did Gordon dislike what the infection had done to them. Bull dog? Nah… now he looked more like a Rottweiler with a lovely network of cuts and scars that were never going to go away. The fact he thought now looked worse than ever made him afraid that's the reason John was throwing himself into work just to avoid him.

He didn't want to believe it…. But it was hard not to when Alan and Scott offered to relieve him and he wouldn't come down.

Jeff hadn't been idle. In fact he had been organising with TinTin and her father a family get away. He didn't have the exact date as to when they were going to take a break but he knew it was very much needed. Shore leave was one thing though it clearly wasn't getting spread around evenly enough and he was determined to start correcting that… but it first had to start with a decent vacation to give them all a break.

Gordon had flat out refused to go. He knew he was more or less now on permanent leave until he made a complete recovery and even then Virgil and Scott were more than happy to have dad only put him on underwater duty when he was able. Besides as far as he was concerned, being stuck at home was more or less a holiday that didn't involve having to wear a disguise in public…. Not that he needed one anymore, hair grew faster than he could shave it. 

Alan had been kind enough to give him a haircut too, though short and spiky was something he was going to have to get used to.

But if he was going to stay behind, John was going to have to come down. Jeff was going to suspend operations for a month… which ment John was going to have to take leave whether he wanted to or not. Just staying with Gordon though was optional - Jeff hoping that John would join them on the trip to Malaysia. 

"Thunderbird Five, this is Thunderbird Three, permission to dock to take you back home for leave." Virgil's voice came over the audio receiver. "Don't make me have to come on board and physically carry you out. Save both of us the embarrassment."

John jerked awake at the sound of Virgil's voice over the comms, he'd fallen asleep in the communications room over the monitors, it wasn’t the first time he had.

"Hurry up, I have to get back in order to catch the plane. Dad's making us fly to Sydney for the main flight and I'm not thrilled being in the same plane as Alan." Virgil's voice grunted. "Surprised that thing hasn't fallen apart mid air yet."

John groaned and pushed his hair back. Metal fingers felt cool but not unpleasant, he'd never realised how much you rely on the ring and little finger before he lost them. There was a lot of broken glass till Brains made him replacements. He'd wanted to make them as realistic as possible but John didn't care about that, only that they were practical, he likely had two of the most expensive fingers in the world now. "Alright!" He yelled back as he got to his feet. "I'll get my bag, no sympathy." He yawns.

"Hey, you get the entire house to yourself for a month. Sure it's not you who needs your sanity checked?" Virgil sounded amused. "How you conned dad into it I'll never know."

John laughs. "I lost that a long time ago and that's a trade secret." He picks up his bag and threw it over his shoulder as he headed for the loading dock.

As the cabin airlocks for Thunderbird Three close, John's bag hit the floor of the cockpit in startled shock.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Gordon chuckled, swinging around in the pilot's seat with a sneaky grin. Alan had done an amazing job before he left with the hair, even adding blonde colouring to the tips so it looked more like sand than red earth, though thankfully he didn't need any help with the make-up to cover up some of the more egregious scars. Some still were visible under the concealer though those were ones that nicely accentuated his features more giving the mischievous grin a roguish quality. His new honey coloured eyes luminously locked onto John, slightly more almond in shape but they put you in the mind of a puppy dog staring back at you full of curiosity and fascination.

It wasn’t the only change though this last one was easily boiled down to the struggle to get his brother to eat while he recovered. The chunker muscular bulk that he had inadvertently gained doing lots of rescues was gone… if anything he'd gone backwards more to what he looked like before the hydrofoil crash - not exactly frail but John could easily wrap his arms right around his entire chest and shoulders again like he could back in college. Scott had mentioned something about him dropping twenty kilos or something absolutely crazy just because he had issues swallowing anything.

It was a reminder how small his older brother actually was when he wasn't made to constantly work and stay insanely fit on strict diets to keep up with his other brother's, something John was well aware of that Gordon would not be allowed to do again if their father had much to do with it.

John couldn't help but stare. Was his eyes playing tricks on him, or did his older brother look… younger?

Gordon held up a little pocket-sized voice modifier device that Brain's had made them to use when in crowds. As Gordon spoke, Virgil's voice came out. "You know they left yesterday afternoon, right?" He said playfully, giving his trademark lopsided right head tilt that went with the grin that always pulled more to the left and showed some of his teeth that screamed mischief incarnate.

"Gordon my gods…."John knew he shouldn't really talk though, he looked like a mess from lack of sleep, eating or exercising as he should, he hadn't yet fallen in a heap but one day he likely would.

"I was thinking dinner… unless you're really set on going to stay at Lady Penelope's ranch. I told her to hold on just in case you change your mind." The smile widened. "Bare with me though I haven't cooked in a while… I was thinking of lemon meringue pie after some braised steak and kidneys, maybe caramelised onions." Gordon raised a eyebrow. "Unless that grosses you out all of a sudden." He caught the mild neon blue glint from John's eyes, one that in himself the glow was stronger and took a while to get used to when trying to look in a mirror. Sure, he didn't remember a great deal but he would be an idiot to not notice that he must have given John the infection at some point while out of control. How long his brother had it though was something he would probably never work out on his own and there was no way he was going to ask.

"Gordon, I…" John says stepping closer, what could he really say? explain himself and the way he's been acting? "I'm sorry…" Did that really cut it?

"For what?" Gordon’s face looked a little worried as he laughed. "You're not dumping me just for almost dying are you?" The honey glow in his eyes dimmed as it was dawning on him that it might be his own fault John was avoiding him. Maybe he should have left him alone? 

The puppy dog eyes looked down as Gordon swung the chair back into position, deciding maybe he shouldn't poke the bear and just fly him home. He flicked on the holo-channel and perked up when Lady Penelope's face came up on screen.

"Good evening, and what do I owe the pleasure of this call Gordon?" Penelope's voice drawled.

"Will be touching down in two hours, got you a passenger to pick up in FAB One for a vacation to the ranch."

"You're not coming, Gordon?"

Gordon laughed and shook his head. "Definitely not Lady Penelope. Farm animals don't get along with me very well, even the one's on Grandma's property used to chase me. If it's all the same I'd prefer to stick to aquariums."

"Alright, we'll see you soon."

" FAB. Strap in John, we're going home." 

As Gordon closed the holocall he sighed. "I don't blame you for avoiding me. I could have killed you like those… those guys…" he didn't want to say 'bullies' even though that's more or less what they were. "Instead, I made you a monster too. I KNOW I hurt you but couldn't even…" 

"Wait! You could have killed me!?" John shouts "Fuck Gordon I almost did!" He couldn't stop his anger spilling over ever since all this happened as he now had a temper he couldn't keep under control, hell he had started fights with all his brothers and father because of it, something he never would have done before.

"Fuck! Look what I've done to you!" He'd permanently mained him and disfigured him. "I don't blame you for anything!, you fought against it and I just…" had no control, he hadn't been strong enough to fight back unlike Gordon, or maybe John hadn't even tried to. "I don't deserve you after everything Gordon, I completely failed you…"

Gordon snorted and winced, frustrated as finally when it seemed like he was getting his shit together to get past EVERYTHING that had just been thrown at him in the last two or three years and the stuff he did over a few months ago that was beyond his control, he was spiralling back as the darkness clawed at the corners of mind trying to drag him back.

He was over being tired, depressed and on the verge of a meltdown. He wanted to play ball in the pool, get back into messing around in the kitchen or go surfing… do fun stuff again. But John…

"Look, it's ok if we just go back to being nothing more than brothers if that's what you want. Like you've said many times, 'it's only temporary. Just please stop avoiding me ok, John? Between you, Scott, Virgil, Alan and Tintin … you're the only true friend I've got. I understand if you'd rather not be after this."

"The last thing I want is to end things." John moved closer, Gordon’s scent hit him and he almost lost control of himself from how intoxicating it was. 'Stay focused, John. come on,' he told himself. "But I don't know how we can continue and just pretend it never happened, I'm not the same as before and neither are you."

Gordon locked in the flight path and fell quiet. He didn't need to contemplate the fact they had both tried killing each other at some point under the influence of the virus. Maybe it was a sign things weren't as great between them as he thought they were. Maybe it was time it was over. John was giving him vibes he didn't really like or feel comfortable with. "Yeah… I guess. Maybe… maybe we should though before someone gets hurt." 

It was getting very uncomfortable in here, Gordon found himself trying to sink into the seat making it a barrier between him and his sibling. It wasn’t any good but it was… something. Suddenly he didn't feel safe anymore and the words of warning Scott gave him yesterday about John's complete one-eighty with his personality were ringing in his ears. He'd been prey for bullies and all sorts and frankly didn't need his brother to get it into his head that he'd make a great target for more of it. 

"Johnny… I just want to forget it ever happened. The creature thing… Please?" Gordon shut his eyes tight as a shiver went down his spine.

A scent came to John, something he hadn't smelled before as Gordon pleaded with him, was it fear? Was Gordon afraid of him? "I'm sorry the last thing I ever want to do is upset you, but I don't know how to forgive myself. As John looked over at him he knew Gordon didn't want to talk about this but he couldn’t pretend it didn't happen especially whenever he looked at him. 

"I should have done more to help you. I'm not angry with you, I understand completely." He really wished Gordon would look at him. "You're a lot stronger than I am. I can't believe you fought against that and stayed strong for so long, I'm really proud of you for that."

There was a very strange growling whine coming from the cockpit chair. "Just drop it please. There was absolutely nothing you or I could do so stop being sorry for something outside of your control. It happened John, that's the end of it."

Gordon let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not as strong as you think I am. Wish you all could see that." He groaned. "If all you are ever going to see when we talk is a monster or something to pity for getting mauled by you because I was stupid enough to stop you killing someone like I had… then you never will see me as anything else. I hate that… alot as that's all anyone else sees, heck Virgil won't even talk to me much anymore and Alan just refuses to be in the same room as me unless someone else is there. I don't need reminding that I'm a freaking horror show alright? Least… least I can finally look at myself in the mirror and see something else staring back at me that's not a butchered bastardised version of mum's reflection. Make-up can only do so much you know? It can't cover up everything under the skin. Out of everyone I was hoping at least you'd…"

He pulled a few leavers and moved some controls around. "If it's all the same… forget about dinner. I think I'll spend the next month hiding under my mattress."

"I had no idea…" He'd been keeping things from him again, at last John found out from Gordon this time.

Gordon reached out for a leaver but his hand faltered. He was still getting light headed thanks to Scott telling him something was wrong with his heart and he should take it easy. Something to do with blood flow or something…

"John, I might need you to take over to land."

"You alright Gordon?" John was concerned, as Gordon was looking quite pale he'd been told by Virgil, Gordon shouldn't push himself.

"Just feel dizzy. Blood pressure does funny things in space I wasn't aware of." Gordon’s head lulled back into the seat trying not to blackout.

"Hang on Gordon." John makes him slide over as he moves around to take the pilot's seat, he was lucky he made it up looking at him now. He re-adjusted a control or two, Gordon could fly Thunderbird Three fine but John had more experience with piloting a spacecraft.

Gordon didn’t remember much of the flight beyond hitting Earth's atmosphere although he was surprised to still be lying on the couch that came up into the living room of the house. The room was empty and quiet, the blinds drawn across the large spacious windows by Virgil's grand piano, Dad's desk in the corner still covered in unfinished paperwork and of course the wall where he proudly displayed his son's portraits…

Gordon groaned. Penelope and Parker probably have picked John up and left by now. He didn't even get to say goodbye to him either. So much for trying to surprise him, joke around…feel normal around someone.

Getting up slowly he made his way out of the room and headed for bed. He needed to get his head straight after everything with John went up in smoke. He fed his tank of sea dragons, a large one he built himself during a lull in rescues originally to house an octopus but it kept getting out and into Scott's room across the hallway. He slid to the floor in front of it, resting his hand against the glass as one of the weedy sea dragons seemed to follow his fingers around. He smiled slightly as it was the only one that seemed to do this, take an interest in him. Even now the others kept towards the other side of the tank far away from him whenever he looked at them, his glowing eyes seeming to spook them more than his presence did before.

Kinda like his brothers… come to think of it. They seemed to be terrified of being anywhere near him.

Except John. Gordon seemed to make him really upset and that was even worse.

"Why couldn't I be bitten by a siren? At least covered in scales, fins and the ability to live under the ocean wouldn't be as much of a curse as this… this has been." He mumbled, removing his shirt and tossing it aside, the WASP tattoo over his heart gleaming like it was still freshly done though with a huge scar cut all through it connecting to the one running down the center of his chest. He touched them gingerly, both were angry and raw…and no one would tell him what exactly had happened to make them cut him open. He just knew that whatever it had been he was now weaker and at a higher risk of a heart attack… 

He rested against the cool glass and closed his eyes again as exhaustion washed over. He was never going to get used to being like this all the time…. It was hell. 

Gordon had passed out long before they reached home, John had laid Gordon down and left him to come to, while he went to raid the kitchen. 

He had a craving for fresh meat for weeks now - well as fresh as it could be - straight from the source wasn't an option.

He called lady Penelope while he "cooked" or sort of did - the rarer the better he liked it now. He apologised that he wouldn’t be able to make it as Gordon was still unwell and he would rather not leave him alone.

With that done he went to check on Gordon and found him gone although it was easy to find him not just by scent but by sound as well, John hadn't failed to notice how much better some of his senses were.

"Why couldn't I be bitten by a siren?" He heard Gordon say before he reached his door and found him already out on the floor. He was okay, just exhausted. John lifted him up and onto the bed.

Looking at Gordon now laying there he still couldn't believe how different he looked. He was so much smaller now, he never would have been able to move him before.

John lay down next to him just watching Gordon sleep for a few minutes longer than he intended to, though having passed out from his own exhaustion on the communications console back on the station hadn't been a real replacement for actual sleep. He hadn't had a proper night of it for some time now, it wasn’t surprising that it was all catching up to him. 

As he was drifting off there was a soft shallow whine. Glancing down at the sleeping figure in his arms, everytime his older sibling's chest inhaled air there was a slight huffing grunt followed by another whine as he exhaled… like a slickly little puppy. Occasionally Gordon shifted to get comfortable, nuzzling into John's chest and pulling the fabric of his shirt into his hands, scrunching it between his fingers.

John wrapped his arms around him pulling him even closer, he inhaled deeply his nose in Gordon’s hair - fucking hell  he always smelt so good -  but more so now thanks to his sense of smell being more acute than it ever was.

It was one of the things he loved about him. He brushed his fingers through Gordon's short spiked hair god damn he had missed him.

"Shirt…." 

John glanced down and caught the smile that was resting on his brother's sleepy face. 

"Take…off your shirt."

"As you wish." John replied with a smile on his own face as he sat up and slowly unbuttoned the shirt and carefully removed it watching Gordon's face as he held him in suspense.

There was a very confused raised eyebrow followed by a mumble, "Over dramatic much?" Gordon grabbed his sibling by the half opened shirt and pulled him back down on top of him, letting out a very amused playful chuckle after a quick peck on the nose. "I guess this answers my question about us huh?"

When John chuckled back it was a much more deep throaty sound like he was growling. "I couldn't give you up if I tried, you've always been the first and only one for me." 

"You have got to stop reading Virgil's terrible poetry." Gordon poked him gently in the chest. "No surgery scars anymore I see. Guess you got all the good stuff huh? Always do you lucky bastard." He gave John a smile before kissing him a little more with light fluttery kisses.

"I suppose Virgil told you about those scans on my back but it hasn't all been sunshine and rainbows, I've fought with everyone but you so far."

Gordon frowned. "Actually they've told me very little. Probably hard when I barely stay awake longer than a few hours at a time." He tried to sit up on his arms. "Scott did say something about your attitude being sour and to watch where I stepped. Honestly you did frighten me a little when I came to get you. Did something else happen?"

"I honestly never meant to scare you… I just don't know, since… everything…" John tries to get his thoughts straight. "I use to keep it all inside. I could do that and be fine but I can't anymore, I can't help getting angry… I can't even talk to anyone about it, I'm sure they think I'm losing it. "

"Being angry is normal, John. I got frustrated a lot with things after rescues when they were bad and preventable. Wouldn't say I was pleasant to be around. You should see Scott when he decides to throw his weight around, you don't want to be in the way of that." Gordon smirks.  "Let's just say I'm grateful Virgil's taught me how to avoid some of the more furious strikes. He's too much fun not to set off though. You have to otherwise he starts doing risky, dangerous things. Scotty has zero release valves for venting anything. You can't be half that bad."

"Not when you almost get people killed because of it… I lose it completely one day even broke the communications console, it was stupid and I put people lives at risk, at the time I couldn't get it under control I'm ashamed to say…"

Gordon sighed, pulled John back on top of him and held his face, caressing his cheeks teasingly to relax his tightening features. "Machinery can be fixed and there are other people who can attend rescues. We don't have to go on every single damn one of them the way Scott thinks we do." 

"John, if anything you gave them nothing to do for a few days, gave Dad something other than me or Alan to complain about… you did them a favour they're ungrateful to have noticed." He kissed him on the forehead. "You haven't put someone in the hospital because you got pig headed, had a fight with everyone your working with and made a decision that was so insanely stupid… I know I haven't and frankly when you've BEEN the one put in the hospital from those kinds of stupid angry choices someone else made….I know you have too." 

Gordon nuzzled John, kissing his lips and trailing his hands lovingly down his neck and caressing his collarbone. "I'm guessing it was over something? Or was it over someone? I won't tell, who'd listen to me anyway?"

"I don't really want to get into it now, especially when there's something else I'd much rather get into." 

"Oh I'm sure I can keep that fury in check. Let me make two guesses." Gordon asked as he nuzzled John's neck as kisses started to trail downward. "If I'm off by miles you can take me down a peg however you like. If I'm right…"

He licked the nape of his brother's neck and felt him shudder as his hands delicately stroked his sides. "Then I get to ride as long as I physically can. Either way I lose out on this one but I'm getting a better view at least." Gordon’s fingers started to massage his brother across his back and shoulders tentatively working loose a few tight knots in the muscle.

"Let's see… I wonder if it was partly over making someone work so hard that their body under extreme stress started to fail and is even now internally damaged enough that everyone is unsure that they'll even wake up everytime they fall asleep, which is often I imagine…."

Gordon shifted his legs so John's hips sat against his, his body letting out a little yelp of discomfort as despite John being very light his muscles and bones were crying uncle in a way they hadn't for a long time. He tried not to think about the fact that regardless how they continued he was no longer going to be able to keep up with him, fully aware the physical act would cause him to black out if things got intense.

When was the last time he felt this broken? Once too often was the answer but it never left him feeling so frail that the possibility of not going back to any normality was on the cards…if you called going back to a life of saving people in danger that can't be saved by normal means a life of normality.

He was never going to be one hundred percent, not anymore.

"But it's not just that… is it? You're frustrated that your madly in love with such a car wreck…" Gordon's chest heaved as his arms went slack as he had a minor black out mid sentence, the strange puppy-like breathing returning until he stirred, a slurred swear being uttered before he was able to make any eye contact again. 

"If it makes any difference, it's just as frustrating and inconvenient on the other side of it too. I'm not joking when I said that I'd rather be swimming or surfing than watching myself in case I collapse without warning down the stairs on the way to the patio or the damn kitchen. Turns out we'd be like this regardless of the things that happened thanks to that stupid attack in the mine as we got all our physicals result back we took before that."

Gordon pulled John in close so his head rested on his bare and heavily scarred chest. With his more sensitive hearing John could pick up the abdomalties in his older brother's pulse and the strange sounds coming from his lungs with every intake of air.

"My body was on its way out, John. Dad didn't want to tell me he had tried to put me on a waiting list for a transplant. Turns out I don't qualify." Gordon’s voice was a little shaky.  "I don't want to be made to think about it, the same way I don't want to think about… the other thing however I don't get a choice. There's no point getting angry, it won't make things better."

John knew it was true without Gordon even having to tell him, he could smell a scent of sickness, he had ever since they gave Gordon the cure but had been denying it.

Gordon kissed John on the lips and lingered there longer than the last time. "I just want to spend my time with you John… as long as I get it, I don't care about anything else - heck we could have sex in every damn room in the house, video tape it, ask Virgil if he wants to commemorate it in a fucking painting while we go at it… I just want to be with you John so please stop avoiding me like you have ok?"

John wrapped his arms tightly around him. He was so small now he could get his arms all the way around. If he could he wouldn't leave Gordon’s side again, every minute was closer to their last.

A sly grin crossed Gordon's face, revealing his teeth and the two animal canines that still hid within. "Now, about that ride?"

He nuzzled John again, this time pushing him gently so he'd roll onto his back so he could lie on top and start raiding his lithe porcelain body with little affectionate flicks of the tongue, playful nips and kisses, lingering around the ribs before sitting up and giving them a not so friendly jab. 

"Don't want to burst your bubble here John but I'm not going to have sex with a limp pool noodle. Yeah ok so I'm not going to be around forever… but who is? You going to hold that against me? Going to stop having fun and messing around because you're afraid you'll break something? If that where the case I wouldn't have snuck into your hospital bed when you had that back injury and gave you the most ridiculous sex you've ever had with me dressed as a nurse… 'cause I'll tell you what, we were all afraid you'd never walk again but by no means did it stop you wanting affection, wanting to be close to someone. Just because you're health is messy doesn't mean you want to give up on the few good things you still can enjoy."

"Though I'd bloody give you a good one if you DID return the favour in the nurse costume." Gordon laughed. "You'd have the legs for it and the belly…" he let put a very playful growl as he lent forward and gave John's belly some attention, tickling him and feeling him squirm a little under his touch.

John laughs "How could I forget?"

"Although, there's probably nothing left here to want to make love to, I'm sure." He lay flat across his taller younger sibling and rested his head on his chest. I remember how you liked the beast…  not very well but you did seem to more than regular old me. I wonder if that makes me now less attractive since I'm not even half of what I was now? Or am I just being paranoid because you haven't decided exactly how you feel yet?"

He sat up and ungracefully slid off John and touched the floor before walking to the large fish tank, the blue light illuminating his skin from behind as he rested against it and removed his jeans and boxers till the light lit him all across his body. "Life's too short to waste it on 'what if' and spend it lamenting what could have been. Should worry about the now, what's infront of you…the moment you might miss."

"You think I'm that shallow? No matter how many times I tell you differently, you have such trouble believing me." He kissed Gordon furiously now the taste and smell of him, flooding his senses didn't fail to make him hard in an instant. "You look like the Gordon I fell in love with." He said when he finally pulled away. "The one against so many odds loved me back." He runs his fingers through Gordon's short cropped hair, knowing he couldn't fail to feel how much he desired him. "How could I not still be in love with you then?"

"Then prove it." Gordon smirked. "Put your money where your mouth is. We've got the whole place to ourselves for a month, are you sure you won't get bored by the end of the week?" He teased, fully aware he was doing so to rile him up good and proper and possibly have John tie him up somewhere turning the room into a personal sex dungeon he wasn't allowed to leave without his brother unless it was for the bathroom. He had done that to John once for a joke which backfired spectacularly because his younger brother got so into it and enjoyed it when he did freely wander around the house naked he regularly got pounced on. Sex got very VERY interesting when you decide to bake a cake at the same time….

Gordon may never beg… but he did push enough buttons to get people sucked into a dare that they didn't expect him to pull on them.

He mused. "If you haven't the money I'm sure you can improvise." Gordon started tugging at the slacks John had thrown on since coming home. "Just… be warned that I have no control of blacking out so don't - don't freak out or anything. I'll be ok after a few minutes and you can keep going." He reached up and pulled John towards him to kiss him a little more heatedly. "Would be disappointed if that suddenly stops the fun."

John was feeling apprehensive after what Gordon was saying, how could he not?

Gordon slid his hands back downwards as his lips were being raided with as much enthusiasm and energy as he was able to give in return, loosening the hem of John's trousers and slipping his hands into them at the back to give his brother's backside a pinch.

John jumped and can't help smirking. It wasn't like he didn't want to, he did of course. He'd been dreaming about being in each other's arms again but now he didn't know how much Gordon could handle.

"What are you waiting for?" Gordon's voice playfully growled deeply and seductively. "I can tell you've been missing me…" and with that he got down onto his knees, slipping John's trousers down and started teasing him with little flicks of the tongue whilst his hands kneaded and massaged his sibling's lower back and backside. The aim was to get him riled up so Gordon avoided giving him what he wanted by only stroking with his tongue and not delivering on giving head. 

John swore if Gordon still had a tail he'd be wagging it, the scent he was giving off while not masking his condition completely was sweet and smelled of peppermints which while different from the usual sea salt and chlorine wasn't entirely unwelcome. It would be hard to resist not biting into his skin to taste him just to be sure.

The other one though… it was trumping everything very hard. John didn’t dare want to think about it as he could tell exactly how much longer his brother had to live and it was a scary thing to know that no one else did. For Gordon not to know though was odd. He more than anyone should know he wasn't going to be around long enough to even see Alan and TinTin's wedding.

The massaging and kissing against his inner thighs had stopped, a heavy weight resting against his legs. Getting down on his knees he lay his older brother across his lap and rested one hand against his neck and counted his heart beats. He had two or three weeks at the most, four on the outside. Sex or too much physical activity might cut it shorter.

There had to be something he could do. 

"Uuuh Ffff-k…" Gordon groaned, as he started coming to again. He buried his head into John trying to hide his face. "Fuck…" Gordon curled up into a shaky ball, a few tears finding an escape route over his cheeks.

"I don't know if I can do this Johnny. I'm not ready." He breathed out with the strange whimpering sound. "I'm not ready to go."

John held him close as tight as he dared to, he really hoped Gordon couldn't feel him shaking. "I know… I'm not going to leave you."

Gordon pushed himself up off John's lap and staggered over to the bedside table to rummage through a draw before coming back and draping something silvery around John's neck.

"I know you gave this to me… and I've tried wearing it whenever we spent time together on your leave. I want you to keep it safe for me."

There was a round pendant on a chain of rose gold made of resin. Within it was a beautiful silver mantaray with some broken pieces of coral frozen in time.  It wasn’t very expensive, but Gordon treasured it like it was worth a fortune. 

"Gordon…" 

Gordon then kissed John's lips softly before collapsing beside him, the black outs draining as much energy to shut him down as it took to fight against them to stay awake. This one looked like it would have him out of it for a while.

John lay down beside him pulling the covers up over them, pushing Gordon into his arms and resting his head on his. He could hear his brother's struggling heartbeat. Gordon had said he got all the good stuff but it was feeling far from that, knowing what he did now.

He let the tears fall he'd been holding in as he cried himself to sleep he was sure it wouldn't be the last time he would.

***

"You two coping alright without us? Dad says I can wiz home if you need the help."

Gordon shook his head. He felt as if his brain was rattling around inside of it. "John's got a pretty good handle on things, Alan."

Alan's visual on the wall mounted portrait phone of him didn’t look entirely convinced. He could see his older brother sitting on the chair behind their dad's desk barely looking lucid.

"I'm sure he does. Question is have you? You look awful."

Gordon tried to give his youngest sibling a dirty look but all it did was confirm his exhaustion in his sibling's eyes.

"Just enjoy your holiday, Alan. Don't worry about us. How's TinTin's Aunt?"

"Doing great actually.  She's been all over us, expecting us to have a second wedding Malaysian style. TinTin doesn't want to but from what I've seen it looks WAY more interesting than OUR wedding ceremonies. Er.."

"I sense a personal question incoming." Gordon chuckled.

Alan's visual sighed. "You'd be right on that, Gordon. It's not just me who's been thinking about it too."

"I can imagine." Gordon broke eye contact briefly before looking back at his brother's video call. "I don't really know. I don't want to make a promise I can't keep."

"Dad said the Doctor was there yesterday.  Have you gotten the results back?"

"Yes."

"And?" Alan queried, prepared to pester Gordon to get the information if he had to.

His older brother glanced around, checking to make sure John wasn't in earshot though lately his brother had a scary knack of hearing a pin drop from the other side of the house. He was hoping that he was tending the plants in the horticultural hot house they had on the island could be self-sufficient as much as possible just like the space station. Gordon wasn't keen on gardening unless it was to do with coral reefs and kelp forests but John, Scott and Alan had various degrees of interest in it, you had to if you needed to grow your own food over a month or so.

"Kidney damage, liver damage, irregular heart palpitations, lung deterioration… lost sensation in my toes and fingertips. They want me in a hospital despite nothing they can do. Rather stay here where it's familiar. In the hospital if… if it happens I'm all alone."

"Well please hang in there a little longer ok Gordon? I'd hate it if we didn't say goodbye or anything." Alan's voice pleaded.

"I'll try." Was all Gordon could say.

"You don't sound very convincing."

"What do you expect, Alan? I'm fucking slowly dying!" Gordon snapped. "I don't get a say on whether I hang in there or not!"

"Sorry Gordon I didn't-"Alan began.

"It's…it's ok. I should be the one who's sorry. I'm scared, Alan. Really really scared. Then add ontop you guys and John acting all 'funny' around me… Look just… enjoy your holiday ok? Please?" 

Gordon then abruptly hung up the call and Alan's video screen returned with his photograph portrait. He then attempted to get out of Dad's chair and his legs went from under him, hitting his head against the desk before hitting the floor.

"You still want to do this with me? Even with my mangled spine?"

"John, listen to me. The only way I won't be all over you would be because I'm dead ok? I couldn't care if you lost half that pretty boy face of yours in a fire, lost an arm or a leg…I'd still love you and would do everything to make you feel safe, loved and normal. Intimacy is a part of that."

Gordon knelt in front of John's wheelchair and lifted his brother's head up so he looked at him.  "How many times have I been in situations like this and you did everything to make sure I was ok?"

"Too many to count."

"Right. Have I ever once doubted you when you told me things could only get better?"

John shook his head.

"So why are you doubting me when I say it?" Gordon kissed him on the lips, not giving a damn if anyone walked by and saw them in the small hospital garden. "You are not broken, you are not damaged. You are STILL my brother John, the one who bloody crawls into my bed and has the loudest damn voice outside of porn stars when we do it together."

"You know all this changes right? Just means it's me crawling into your bed instead."

This made John laugh so Gordon kissed him again. "If we find a bush around here big enough…"

"Are you serious! Right here in public?" John exclaimed.

"Yup. Let's get you out of that thing and on top of me. I'll hold you steady until you can't cope with the pain in your back. Frankly I hope to nullify that by going a round or two before someone realises you are missing your rehabilitation session."

"Gordon, I think this would be much less useful than rehab."

"Good. Now let's find a damn big enough bush."

While Gordon checked in with the rest of the family, John went to retrieve a certain box he'd been keeping hidden in his room. 

He wasn't sure how he had, had the foresight to do this with everything that had been happening but ever since he had seen all of Gordon's scars gone, it had been in the back of his mind.

With only Gordon and him home it was the best opportunity he had to look into it.

He was no expert but he couldn’t ask anyone who was, so he'd been reading textbooks in his spare time and had an idea of what he was doing.

The last time he was here was when he tested the "cure" on himself he noticed there were still clawed scratches on the wall. A shiver ran up his spine seeing it, it was still all so surreal that had been him who left those deep vicious marks.

Turning his back to the wall he opened the box. Inside were vials of blood so carefully he took out two one labeled Gordon the other John and placed them into the bio-chemistry analyser, he hoped they hadn't become too degraded since he took them.

Gordon picked himself up off the floor, rubbing the bump to the side of his head and wincing when he saw blood on his hand.

Just great, that's just what he wanted.

Feeling as if he'd been on an all night bender with some of Virgil's finest home brewed whiskey, he felt his way along the walls through the vision of motion sickness and 0llack of balance till he could round the corner to the kitchen and find somewhere safe like under the table where there was nothing to look at until the world stopped spinning around in circles.

Once somewhere he felt relatively safe, he pressed the call button on his watch and lay it across his chest intending to tell John he was ok… until another black out occurred, letting the call ring out and giving whoever answered a glorious view of the underside of the table.

"TO OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS WITHOUT ANYONE OVER TWENTY!" 

All three Tracy's raised their beer mugs in a toast before sculling down their liquor.  

Alan let out a loud belch and slammed his drink hard onto the wooden table. "Oh man this is SO AWESOME! We can do whatever we want!" 

Gordon patted Alan on the back. "Sure kiddo. Just don't set the apartment block on fire with the Christmas tree, ok?" 

"It feels weird not having Virgil or Scott here." John frowned, looking at his empty mug before Alan refilled it. 

"I'm sure they feel weird without us around too, though knowing Scott he'd probably be happy we're not under his feet. Military School didn't just straighten him out, it turned him into dad." Gordon laughed. 

"Yeah, let's forget them this year and PARTY!" Alan got up, cheered and turned the radio up loud before shouting, "WHO WANTS TO HIRE A STRIPPER!"

Gordon groaned from his position under the table. Why did he have to remember THAT night specifically? He thought he was WAY too drunk to do so. Alan's stripper turned out to be a Fatagram which while hilarious definitely put an end to his drunken reign of terror that Christmas eve.

There was a reason it resurfaced though and it occurred to him that quite possibly only he would remember it - it was the reason he came out of the closet in fact.

Alan and John had somehow convinced themselves hours before the 'stripper' was supposed to arrive that watching some terrible porn film to laugh at how bad it was was an ingenious idea. Considering that Jeff was very protective of his sons and the stuff he allowed them access to growing up for the three of them this was the first real exposure to anything like it. The sex education they had been given was admittedly sparce and held off until they HAD to be pulled aside to have it all explained but much of it was still full of holes.

It started out as they expected - lame and badly written. That was until the porn stars all started to come on the screen. There were drunk cheers from Alan and John and alot of laughter amongst a few 'EWWW THEY DID WHAT?' moments and then some in-depth detailed conversations about the woman and how attractive they all were, occasionally mentioning the blokes but only because they were joking around. 

After an hour of it, Gordon couldn't take it anymore and left to continue unpacking his stuff in his little room. It wasn’t the relaxing sort of unpacking either, more the frustration at himself sort as despite all the sex talks, all the porn and his siblings talking about how beautiful those woman were he simply couldn't see it. It's not that they weren’t pretty - they were very attractive - they just weren’t what he was being drawn to.  

It felt weird and it felt strange… to be sitting with his brothers who admittedly all lived in an all male household and be looking at all the men in the film thinking, 'Why do they have the ugliest faces on the hottest bodies I've ever seen?' to 'how come I've never thought this before around my siblings?' 

"Hey Gordon, you ok in there?" 

"Leave him alone John, he's probably needing a private moment. Don't blame him after all of those big tits on screen!" Alan called out drunkenly. 

John, just as intoxicated, ignored him and kept knocking until the door swung right open and he was dragged inside, roughly pushed up against the wall and kissed on the lips. Eventually Gordon backed away, looking very confused as if his head was trying to figure something out and before John could drunkenly hit him for violation of his personal space, the doorbell rang with Alan's worst phone call decision he had ever made on the other side.

It wouldn't have mattered who Gordon had kissed then out of them both. The point was to see if his confused state was real and put his mind at ease at the time that 'Yes, he was definitely attracted to those men in the snuff film' and that 'it didn't make him attracted to his siblings'. 

After Alan and John went to bed that night, Gordon rewatched the film a few more times just to be sure. Yup there was no way in hell he found that stuff remotely engaging. Sure it could have just been what Alan picked but there were a few girls on girls moments and Gordon couldn't figure out why they weren't working for him either.  Towards the end of it was one short sequence with the male stars…and yeah after pausing that part and rewatching it he found himself wishing he was one of them which was absurd, except that it wasn't.  

A few days after that Christmas they all went to some new years eve party that John got them invited to and it all came out. Well sort of. Gordon didn’t say anything though having Alan walk in on him and a guy he spent most of the night 'flirting' with did it instead. 

Gordon was very careful after that though. Sure he had to tell his whole family what Alan saw was true and he didn't hide the fact he was perving on other blokes when they were all out in public just blowing off steam from their studies but the truth was he never slept with anyone else despite the numerous times both Alan and John brought one nighters to the apartment - John far more adventurous with who he was with more than Alan. It wasn’t that he wasn't interested, no it was the fact both Alan and John's friend circles started spreading things about him that were not only untrue but made it remotely impossible to talk to other people without them going, 'Oh hey you're that ugly one, right? Do you think you could hook me up with your brothers? Why? Because I heard they're absolutely wild in the sack.'

Gordon admittedly punch one bloke who said that to him about John, like his younger brother was nothing more than a bike everyone wanted to ride. The ladies towards both of them weren't any better. He had started to see a side to it all he didn't like and while he wasn't as scary as Scott or as menacing as Virgil could be he did step in to stop people just using his sibling who had no idea that yeah… they were being used as leverage.

And it did indeed stop, though Gordon wasn't sure if it was because of his interference or the fact that the younger two finally got their sex drives under control as towards the end of thier studies when they started getting internships with Nasa things shifted again in the other direction. He was glad he didn't have to get into fights anymore with random people to keep them away from them behind their backs to protect them from those who wanted to hurt them until Eddie and Peter decided that beating the tar out of him among other things in return was much more fun than chasing after Alan, Alan's friend TinTin and John.

He wasn't proud of any of that but it meant the worst of his siblings' college shenanigans didn't bite them when they had stopped indulging in them. It cost him his spot on the Olympic team and lost him his own internship with a marine science research center but it ment his brother's weren't the ones getting pinned down in the ally way a few streets from their apartment getting physically and on the rare occasion sexually assulted just because they had been doing things that normal teenagers do when they have their first taste of freedom away from their parents. 

That hydrofoil crash a year later when he was in WASP wasn't an accident as much as everyone thought it was. Being called a Bull dog and other names from his colleagues he was trapped inside submarines with most of the time...then pretending to everyone else things were fine eventually took its toll. Hitting that ramp on the angle he did was entirely intentional and he knew it.

Two months on life support, one in recovery and a lesson learned that the only people who remotely cared about him at all were his family. It's why when Dad asked them all if they were interested in saving people's lives he was the first one to say yes and the only one who didn't question why their father wanted them to do it. 

Gordon didn’t need to be staring at the underside of the kitchen table to reach the ipiphany that he had really fucked up his own life but he was curious as to why all his brothers dropped their well paying and high profile jobs to join him in obscurity in an organisation that their dad wanted to run. He only did because he had nothing to lose in doing so, compared to his sibling's he was more or less a nobody who just happened to be one of the Great Jeff Tracy's sons.

Now he wasn't even going to be THAT anymore if he gave in and let his body give out. 

John's holo phone suddenly started ringing, he was confused when he saw it was Gordon. "Gordon everything alright?" His image was strange; he couldn't work out what he was looking at and couldn’t see Gordon anywhere. "Gordon?" No answer. A feeling of dread started to pool in the pit of his stomach. 

He raced back to their father's desk where last he saw Gordon and he was gone. He found blood on the floor and the coppery scent of it hit his nose making it easy to follow the trail.

Gordon dragged himself out from under the table and headed for the landing that led to the stairs to the pool. Maybe if he could just sit in the sun on the decking for a while he could find the energy to stop fucking blacking out and having bits of his memory remind him how much he is wasted potential to everyone around him. The effort to physically not fall down the stairs was extremely difficult, he had slipped several times before plonking himself down and accepting that he wasn't going to get anywhere near a deck chair without the possibility of winding up face down in the pool before he got there.

At least the sun still was warm here on the stone steps.

John finally found him slumped down on the stairs towards the pool. "Gordon!" He checked his pulse and it was weak. "Oh Gordon." 

He pushed his hair back and there was a cut on his forehead that was bleeding everywhere. He picked Gordon up and carried him back to the lab, where he laid him on one of the beds before getting a med kit to clean to treat the wound to his head.

"... it's so cold… I was warm before…really warm…" Gordon mumbled as he shivered, conscious but drifting in and out. "Johnny… let me sleep."

John lay a thermal blanket over him, he would be more comfortable in his bed but he wouldn't dare let him out of his sight after this if he made it down to the pool and fell in…he didn't want to think about it.

He checked the progress on the computer. It was still mapping the simples, it was still going to take some time which he wasn't sure Gordon had and there was a problem that had occurred …

 He took his hand in his and kissed it. "Hold on just a bit longer."

"Longer? For what?" Gordon’s voice sounded slightly rambling in tone. "Going to… build a bio-heart or something? Going…going to need more than that… you heard the doctor yesterday".

"I know." It was confession time, John took a deep breath. "Ok don't be angry but… I keep some samples of our infected blood."

"Why?" Gordon shifted a little to give his brother his full attention. "Mine's practically useless and wasn't very healthy beforehand."

"Well after the elevator fell on Thunderbird Five with you in it and you came without a scratch and your scars were completely gone… I realised that the virus has cellular regeneration, if I could just isolate it…"

"You know what ones they were? Can you be absolutely sure there wouldn’t be any side affec-" Gordon’s voice cut out only this time it was because he was have trouble breathing.  Instead he rolled himself over onto his side and tried to concentrate on just taking in air.

"Gordon you okay?" Gordon’s breathing was very laboured. "Listen… There's a problem, the samples are too old. The cells have decayed too much to fully analyse them, we need new samples…But even then it may take too long to sequence it, especially when we don't know just what we're looking for… but there is another possible option…"

Gordon pulled up his sleeve and held out his arm. Good luck to John for getting blood out as the doctor did a wonderful job turning him into a pin cushion trying to get her own yesterday. The bone marrow one left the biggest bruise and still ached like someone stabbed him there with a knife.

"That's not what I mean Gordon…" He wasn't sure if his brother understood. He may rather just die than take the option of going through all of it again but it might be his only hope now.

There was a groan before his sibling went quiet. Staying conscious all of a sudden was getting hard. John had said something that just sounded like muffled gibberish so Gordon just nodded along best he could. Really all he wanted right now was to be held or at the very least to lie in the sunshine as he suspected he wasn't going to be able to do either after the next time he blacked out. He was growing weaker faster than he wanted to, no way was he getting any last wishes fulfilled now.

The scent coming from Gordon was confirming one thing. They were out of time, he didn't really want to do this and it might just kill him but he would rather have tried something than nothing.

He strapped the bed restraints on Gordon as he had no idea how long it would take. He drew some of his blood from his sample yet the hardest part was getting a vein, Gordon's pulse was so weak they kept collapsing so he kept at it till finally he got one. "I'm sorry Gordon." He said as he pushed the needle plunger in.

Silence fell across the laboratory and John held his breath til it dawned on him he couldn't hear the rasping sounds that he had come to associate with his brother's own breathing the last few days.

"Gordon? GORDON!" John shook him and checked his pulse. A smell wafted up his nostrils of fresh death hanging in the air.

His older sibling, his secret lover and closest friend… had gone.

***

For a long time John just sat by Gordon's side. Finally he got up and wandered the house stopping occasionally at a room and just staring into it.

Eventually he came to the laundry room.

He was twelve years old…  his brother Gordon came into his room and started taking his clothes off, then he was kissing him and doing things to him he didn't know the name for at the time….

Suddenly he felt wet and opened his eyes. He'd been dreaming. He'd never had a dream like that before, it was strange and made him feel funny when hos brother did those things to him and now he had wet the bed. He got up and turned the light on.

But when he checked the bed it wasn't what he thought. Instead it was sticky, he pulled at the sheets and snuck down to the laundry room to dispose of them.

"What are you doing?" Came Scott's sleepy voice from the doorway making John jump.

"No- nothing. "

Scott looks between him and the washing machine. "Have an accident?"

"No!" John snapped back.

"Okay so you just like washing your sheets in the middle of the night then?

John puffed out his chest. "Yeah what of it?"

Scott smirked. "Alright you little brat…. enjoy yourself. " he yurned to walk away.

"Scott!" His eldest sibling stopped and looked back questioningly as John quickly blurted out, "I… I think I'm sick…"

"Sick?"

John Nodded. "My sheets… it was weird it was sticky."

"Sticky?" His eyes widen in the way he had just realised something. "Oh, oh okay… ahhh say you didn’t happen to have a dream before that…" Scott looked like he was trying to think of something. "Made you feel good?"

John blinked in surprise "How did you know that?" Thinking back on it, it hadn't been a bad dream…it was a really good dream like… really good.

"Oh fuck why do I have to?" Scott swears as he comes back into the laundry, closing the door behind him. "Don't tell dad I swore." He gives John a 'I'll get you back if you do look'. "Okay ahhh… well you're not sick."

"I'm not dying or something then?"

"What? No its normal, all guys get those dreams."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"So you do?"

"Ahhh yeah."

"And Virgil?"

"I'd say so. Wouldn’t be surprised, actually. "

"Gordon?"

"I guess… If he does I've never caught him yet."

"Alan?"

"EEW! No! His too young, anyway."

"Dad?"

"Gross, John don't go there! I don't want that image in my head, yuck!"  Scott looked disgusted. "Anyway, we all get the dream about girls its normal."

"About girls?"

"Yeah."

"But it wasn't…" John didn't want to say it was about Gordon and not a lady.

"It wasn’t what?" Scott thinks about it and his expression goes into a huge 'OH.' "Was it a guy instead?

John shifted uncomfortably. "There is something wrong with me isn't there?"

"No, no not at all" Scott looked like he was struggling with how to handle all this information. "There are men… who like other men in the same way… they would like a lady."

John looked confused. "So it's normal?"

"For some yes… "

"I don't want anyone… else to know."

"That's fine, you can tell them when your ready."

"You won't tell them?"

"I swear I won't."

"Good, 'cause I'll tell dad you were swearing if you do."

"Little brat!" Scott ruffled John's hair. "I'm drawing a line at the sex talk though."

"Ewww gross Scott!" John immediately tried to fix his hair after Scott made it full of knots.

"Go back to bed, John. I'll take care of this for you. That way Grandma can tell me off instead."

"Thank you, Scotty." 

When their father finally had that talk with him, it didn't answer all of his questions. He knew it wasn’t the normal to have such feelings for your own sibling.

In college he tried to get those thoughts and feelings out of his head by hooking up with random people...that eventually stopped when he had an STD scare. They didn't help him any, especially when he found out the lengths his older brother went to protect him....

Gordon’s body had been moved from the laboratory and placed carefully in his own bed. Last thing John wanted the others to see when they came back was his dead body tied down to a bench.. it would raise a ton of questions he wasn't sure he could deal with the answers to.

Light from the fish tank filled the room illuminating the corpse, at least till John switched the light off.  After he left the room the glow of the moonlight replaced it through the thin curtains of the bedroom, gently caressing any exposed areas of skin it could touch giving it an ethereal glow.

The quiet sound of the fish tank water pumps humming was eventually accompanied by slow rhythmic intakes and expulsion of air.

John headed to their father's desk, he had to tell the family of Gordon's passing.

He pressed the call button and it was picked up instantly by Jeff, who was looking as if he had not been relaxing at all on holiday.

"John? Is everything alright? I can be there as soon as I can-"

"Easy, Dad! Wait and see what's happening first." Came Scott's voice as he stepped into view on the video call behind their father. Ever since Alan's call and his retelling of Gordon's results, Jeff had swiftly packed up everything and was ready to head back on the first plane he could get. Only thing that had stopped him had been Virgil, because his second eldest son knew how to block a doorway and make it impossible to get around him.

"Gordon… he ahhh…" John replied. It hadn't really sunk in just what had happened yet.

Jeff's face went pale but turned temporarily into solid stone. "Take your time John. Deep breath, tell me what happened."*

"He… stopped breathing… and his heart… it stopped and… and…" He put his hands over face. "Oh fuck!…" This couldn’t be happening, how could he just be gone, like that?

Jeff was quick to move away from the video screen and John could see and hear his dad shouting, "Boys, TinTin grab your things and let's get on any damn plane that's on its way out of here!" In the chaos the footage of everyone stampeding around the hotel room grabbing things and stuffing suitcases in a hurry it was clear that they were all just waiting around for this call. Jeff came back to the screen and said, "Hang in there son, just lay him on a bed and we'll be there as soon as we possibly can. Two days might be a wait but it's the best we can do flying commercial."

John just nodded, not being able to bring himself to speak. He hung up, and just sat at desk for a few moments, before getting up and heading back to Gordon's room.

There was the sound of something shaking itself like it had just jumped out of a pool in the bedroom, fur fluffed out and a long muzzle yawned and stretched while a very elegant tail wiggled and wagged.

It didn't look anything like the Beast that had terrorised the space station, though it did still have the russet red fur, however it now had platinum blondish white striped patterns along its spine, in the tail and around the muzzle. It was smaller built but still muscular in that of lean physique, one ear was partly missing though the most curious thing was it had one honey eye and one neon blue.

And it was watching the sea dragons in the fish tank with it's tongue hanging out, occasionally licking the glass.

Suddenly its ears pricked up as footsteps could be heard getting closer.

In a skittish panic the creature made a dive for the wardrobe and tried to hide itself amongst the clothes, glowing eyes of mismatched colours glared out and blinked…along with a strangled sound of something no longer in the kiss of the moonlight being changed back…

John stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway to Gordon's room where his bed lay empty. That was impossible, he couldn’t be gone… he wouldn't have made the mistake of him not being dead, maybe he shouldn't be surprised anything anymore he'd seen with the impossible with his oen eyes for the last couple of months now.

His heart was in his throat as a pricking sensation ran up his spine he'd come to realise it was the feeding of his hackles raising well if he still had any.

He smelled the air, Gordon's scent was so strong in his room it was impossible to pinpoint anything but he did pick up something else as well, a musky scent that was animalistic lingering around.

His eyes seemed to glow in the low light as he weary looked around the room… he felt he was being watched, he had no idea how Gordon was going to react; a horny playful puppy or a brutal savage killer.

There was a sneeze coming from the wardrobe. Mothballs are a lot more irritating when your sense of smell is more acute than the average humans. 

"Aaaa-CHOO!"

"Gordon…" John gingerly moved towards the wardrobe he heard the sounds coming from. "How are… you feeling?" He asked.

"I-I don't know. Is the light in the room on?"

John looked around the room trying to work out what he meant. "No." He already turned the light in the fish tank off but the room was still brightly lit from the…'moonlight…' shining in.

"Please… turn it on John."

A little confused by the request, John turns on the lights like he asked.

Eventually, Gordon felt safe enough to emerge from the closet. What stepped out however wasn't what John expected. 

For a start, the smell suggested everything about this situation wasn't right. The stench of death still filled the air. Secondly, Gordon's eyes were still off but this time the left on was no longer glowing honey, instead a intensely vibrant neon blue. His hair was still a sandy ginger though a streak of platinum blonde went through it where it parted on the left, every strand as if someone took a spray can and drew a line of colour of white paint from his forehead to the back of his skull. It was still short but there was every sign that if it grew out the stripe would definitely part to either side.

Something else was odd John noted as he stepped closer to reach out to touch his older brother who winced when his fingertips brushed his face, his skin was stone cold and he couldn't hear the odd sounds he associated with his breathing… until it occurred to him that Gordon wasn't breathing at all.

He quickly pressed his hands against his sibling's throat to feel for a pulse but no heartbeat pounded there either.

Cold fingers closed around John's hand and brought it to rest over where his brother's heart should be. Under the thin fabric of his shirt John couldn’t feel any movement.

Gordon could tell something was wrong too. He looked at John rather hurt. "What have you done? What did you do?" He lifted his brother's chin to get him to look at him. "Johnny? Please speak to me…."

John pulled his hand away in horror. "I… I…" was all he could say as he backed away he turned and ran back to the lab locking the door behind him.

He paced back and forth the room running his fingers through his hair. This can't be happening, after everything how could this happen? 

He grabbed a cigarette and tried to light it but the lighter wasn't working he threw it at a wall.

What the fuck had he done?

Gordon stood alone in the bedroom. One quick glance at his reflection in the glass of the fish tank was enough for him to realise why his brother had run. There was no way the others would want to go anywhere near him with how much he had changed. 

Though the fact he was walking around when he shouldn't be would have possibly done it without the freakish looks he had no idea where they had come from.

He strolled out the room and down the hall to the second story balcony outside the living room. The sun was rising in the sky and climbing up onto the railing… 

Gordon jumped.

***

After fifteen minutes lying on the concrete, Gordon's eyes snapped open. He groaned and dragged himself upright despite underneath him blood was indeed splattered out in a delightful pattern where his head rightfully should be smashed open with all its contents everywhere. 

They weren’t. 

Instead he didn't have a single scratch despite the fact that YES that was his blood everywhere and he was covered in it all down his shirt.

"Holy shit John….what the fuck did you do to me?" Gordon sat up and stared at his blood covered but undamaged hands.

If he could breathe… he'd be doing so VERY hard. Instead, he was shaking in sheer terror.

There was another way he could be sure, though he suspected if he was to cut off his arm he'd be able to reattach it after several days of it being casually left around the house.

Heading back inside, he made a beeline for the recreation room - specifically for a certain cabinet against the back wall near the pool table - and rummaged around for something in a large wooden box.

Their great grandfather's blunderbuss he used to use to scare coyotes and foxes off his farm. Their father only kept it as it was the only memento he had of the man.

Now… how to fire it while he held it to his chest?

A loud explosive sounding BANG shook the house. The old blunderbuss needed serious maintenance but despite exploding the handle end, shattering it all across the wall and embedding shards into it the gun had fired very successfully and had left not just a gaping hole in Gordon’s chest cavity but also blood and viscera from his internal organs were sprayed all over the plush green velvet pool table.

John heard and felt what sounded like an exposition. "What the fuck!" He shouted as he unlocked the door and ran towards the source, stopping just around the corner preparing himself for what he was about to see though there wasn't anything that could describe the scene before him.

Gordon blinked and when looked down he saw something was happening within the empty space where his body should be. It was impossible… but he was watching it happen before his eyes. 

His body was repairing itself. Inside and outside… until the only sign there was a hole in the first place was the massive one in the shirt that was now caked in blood.

This… this isn't just regeneration.  Ohhhh no no no… this, this is full blown physical reconstruction.

Slowly, he started to laugh until all that could be heard in the rec room was the sound of a mad man on the verge of mania.

John turned on his heels and ran for his room before his sibling realised he was there. Oh fuck what had he done? he'd made Gordon a monster!

***

After several hours, Gordon had given up on the idea of seeing exactly how far he could take all the 'self repair' his body could do and had found himself on the balcony again in the afternoon sun, lying outstretched and soaking in the warmth. Paws stretched out, tail flickered away some flies and a lovely coat of fur added to the experience of a lazy lounge around.  He more or less left John alone, after all what was the point in hunting around from him when he could smell exactly where he was? The stench of fear was one he faintly remembered and decided it wasn’t worth making worse. He shifted his muzzle and pressed it against the railing and got a waft of dried blood up his nose.

Yeah, maybe he should clean up all that 'mess' before anyone happened to come back home… John would have HAD to have called them about him dying.

The wolf got up on all fours and shook itself, claws skidding on the balcony as it regained its footing and at a leisurely trot the beast padded through the house to the laundry where it had to shift forms to turn on the taps, fill a bucket and grab a brush before shifting back and carrying the bucket between it's jaws and padding along until it was outside and shifting again so he could scrub it clean.

It was probably a decent sight seeing a naked Tracy scrubbing blood off concrete with a brush, though Gordon would probably tell anyone who stopped to ask him why that it wasn't the first time he had scrubbed his own blood off pavement let alone furniture. It wouldn't have been too much to ask for a memory wipe with this unholy reincarnation stick, would it?

They had been coming hard and fast, many of them stuff he had drunk rather heavily with Virgil or Scott to forget. Now there was no way to filter them out and it was like they were all screaming at him to be heard.

He ignored them of course. It doesn't always pay to wallow in self doubt over things outside your control

When he was done he shifted again, picked up the bucket and headed inside for the recreation room…. He had a lot of furniture in there to fix…

A few hours passed before Gordon eventually redressed and knocked on the door of his younger brother's bedroom. He knew he was in there by scent but didn't think it was appropriate to barge in on him.

"John? Are - are you there? Please talk to me. I know you're scared. I - I don't blame you."

He rested his hand against the door and hoped his brother could hear him.

"The thing is Johnny, I'm scared too." 

He moved away from the door and looked at a few minutes before giving up for now and heading to the pool. At least now he'd have no issues if he wanted to sink to the bottom of the deep end to hide anymore. 

Those were the few times he actually won playing hide and seek as a kid. Having a large lung capacity had its perks then and now not having the need to breathe? He could truly feel at home under the water. 

John stirred from his sleep when he heard knocking at the door, heard his name mentioned but was only lucid enough to catch Gordon say, "I'm afraid too Johnny." 

He only ever called him that when he was. 

John felt a stab of guilt at him, everything had been surreal -  beyond sanity to deal with - seeing Gordon heal like that after shooting himself and the fact he was even walking, talking…. when everything else pointed to him BEING DEAD.

But none of it really changed how he felt about Gordon - nothing ever had - he still sometimes got butterflies when he saw him.

He took out the last little bottle of the cure from his bedside table, he'd been thinking everything over and how he could own up and take responsibility for it all.

Everyone else would be home soon. 

He got up still with bed hair and in nothing but boxer shorts and an old loose T-shirt, it was time to face him.

John headed for the kitchens first. He was absolutely starving.

Gordon sat with his eyes closed in the bottom of the deep end. It was at least helping him think with all the pressure of the water around him. At least now if his brains were to come out he could perhaps shove them back in some way.

He could always cut off his hand to prove to them that he is technically dead but then what? They weren’t going to like the fact he looked like a creepy patchwork doll OR the fact he grew fangs, a tail and walked around on four paws. Sure he didn't want to die… but he didn't want to be like this either!

Eventually, he was going to have to make a decision and he wasn't looking forward to it.

John found a rack of ribs in the freezer in which he happily started eating raw. He only bothered to cook for a sense of normality as there was also the fact that Scott, Alan and their father still knew nothing about what had really happened and this would definitely get them asking questions.

He cracked the bones open for the marrow inside…. yeah this would definitely raise eyebrows.

Soon he would likely have to be attempting to explain the events of the last couple of months to them, after calling to deliver the news Gordon had passed but with him still walking around would demand some sort of an explanation, especially since he had no vital signs, scaring and just overall didn't look much like him anymore.

Before any of that he needed to speak with Gordon as he had something to give him. The only concern would be if his sibling wanted it.

Gordon stood up and headed for the shallow end, emerging from the water without having his feet leave the bottom. It was as if he had lead weights in them. He didn't need to splutter or blink the chlorine from his eyes… 

It didn't feel natural. 

He sat on the pool edge, naked in the sun realising how much he missed shivering and feeling the warmth dry him off. Sure he could touch and feel things but anything involving his nervous system was functionally non existent. No pain, no cold, no heat…

Now that wasn’t too big of a deal, until he started wondering if he still had emotions too. He assumed so, as John ditching him before had hurt but did it hurt because he thought or knew that it should or did it hurt because he genuinely felt it? No emotion meant no empathy, it meant no expressions…

No sex drive.

He really hoped that wasn't true, not that it currently made a lot of difference as there was no way anyone was going to make love to a corpse, especially one that is walking around.

There was one way to find out. He'd have to have a shower first, smelling dead and of chlorine probably wasn't going to make anyone stand in the same room as him for more than a few seconds.

He'd rather smell like his shower gel of chocolate peppermints.

John finished cleaning up after his meal, and went in search of Gordon, his senses weren't as accurate as his older brother's would be now.

He had to get really close to pick up anything up sometimes, he smelled cleaning products and blood that hadn't completely been cleaned away - Gordon’s scent was something now very unique among it all: a mix of him, musk and death, the strongest of which was on the balcony.

Once he picked it he was able to track Gordon's movements after he came to his room it was then easy to follow it to the pool, although he wasn't there but wet footprints clued John into just where he had gone.

He heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, he slipped in as quickly as he could.

Gordon had his back to him, yep he still felt these butterflies just seeing him… a good view of his arse helped as well.

He watched him for a few minutes til he was no longer satisfied with just watching, stripping his clothes and joining Gordon wrapping his arms around him from behind he pulled him close. He could have gotten an elbow to the nose but he was pretty sure that he knew he was there the whole time.

"You're still scared." Gordon rested his own hands on John's arms. He was glad his sibling couldn't see his face as he couldn't feel the warmth of his brother's body pressed against his own, making him tense up trying to remember it.

John kissed Gordon's neck and rested his head on his shoulder. "Not of you, more for you."

"And why is that?" Gordon asked, carefully turning around in the small stall so he could look up at John. "Is there something you're keeping from me?"

John tightened his arms around him. "I understand if you hate me, I did do this to you." he continued when Gordon said nothing. "I'm prepared to take responsibility."

"No, you won't. You weren't the one infected in the first place. If I didn’t crawl into that Russian mine, we wouldn't have been in this mess to start with." Gordon rested his hands on his sibling's cheeks. "You can't take responsibility for something going wrong on the job."

"What we do is dangerous, there's no denying that."

"Yes…. Besides, all it really did was shorten my life a smidge more which to be fair…was pretty short anyway." Gordon shrugged. "No one was supposed to know that, still wish you all didn't. Dad disagreed but for once actually listened to me."

"You.. just extended it, that's all John. You didn't know it would do this - this messed up stuff to me as well. You're not responsible for anything other than just being my brother who tried saving me."

Gordon brought John's face to his and kissed his wet lips. "I'm sure we'll figure something out with dad and everyone… they can't just turn their back on me for this, right?"

"I'm not going to let you face them alone, I'll come clean about everything, anyway no way can we keep it all quiet now." He didn't want to drag Virgil and Penelope into it and rather take sole responsibility. "I'm sorry Gordon, it doesn't cut it. I tried to make you better, I reinfected you with my blood… then you stopped breathing… I had no idea this would happen, if you want the cure…" He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

"I know. And I don't want it…. At least now. Maybe put it on a chain in a vial for future use." Gordon rested a hand on John's chest and despite the warm water and the intimate nature of how they were standing in the shower together he found himself dropping eye contact when he couldn't feel his own heart flutter like it always did in his 'secret lover's presence.'

"I think I'm broken, Johnny. Do you know anything that might fix me?"

John gives one of his strange growling laughs "I'm working with some new tools, I hope they're up to the job."

Gordon raised an eyebrow. "Oh? They got an upgrade?" He glances down before looking back up and meeting his brother's gaze. "Unless you circumcised yourself I don't see much difference…" he teased. 

"Maybe we just have to test them out then." He pinned Gordon against the wall, his mouth raiding his and tasting him, hands roaming, even under the water Gordon's skin felt cool to the touch, it wasn’t unpleasant but refreshing.

John was used to the cooler temperature Thunderbird five was keeped at, that anything above he started to find uncomfortable.

Pulling back he looks at Gordon. "So is there somewhere in particular that needs special attention?" He asked, giving Gordon's butt a squeeze.

"I'm sure there's somewhere you could put a key to jump-start this clockwork heart." Gordon pulled John as close as he could against him, lips brushing against his brother's collarbone as light as he dared. If he couldn't physically feel the effects of his brother's touch on his body anymore he knew he had to improvise. It wasn’t as if John couldn't feel his playful dancing fingers, have stopped being ticklish around under the ribs and just above the pelvis around the hips. 

His memories were crystal clear and they allowed his hands and lips to trace the patterns he recalled mapping out his lovers form, working magic to send shudders and shivers of delight and anticipation through John's body, making him jerk occasionally and shift his position letting Gordon have more access to pleasure him.

"Miss me that much huh?" He purred, lapping water that drizzled down his brother's chest. "It feels like an eternity…" he whispered into John's ear. "I'll give you everything that I can, as much as I can. Some parts of me might not be functioning but I'm small and light enough now that you'd probably wouldn't mind me being your bitch."

A smile crossed his face. "I'm your personal malleable fuck toy John. Don't give me that look, I can smell your breath. Leaving teeth marks on me and gnawing on limbs you can reattach while you have me pinned under you…what more could you want to satisfy your…'urges'."

John wanted to deny how much he liked that thought, it was impossible when he was on completely display to Gordon.

Though he'd taken the cure before he'd progressed as far as his sibling he knew there was definitely still some of the beast in him, even if he didn't physically show it -  well that he knew of.

He kissed Gordon furiously, growling with approval as he savoured the taste of him, before he grabbed him and pushed him up against the glass screen with his lover's back to him, he could just see through the glass the mirror beyond. 

Gordon knew his arms were being pulled tight behind him and one of his shoulders cracked and popped by the sheer ferocity of John's forcefulness as he applied all his weight to pin him to the glass, elbowing and almost crushing his skull against it.

Good thing John couldn't kill him a second time but boy Gordon knew he was in for some serious physical punishment. It was just as well he couldn't feel anything as his brother just sunk his sharpened canines into his shoulder though he'd honestly wouldn't have minded knowing the moment his sibling mounted him as being unable to tell meant it was indeed going to be one sided and he had to rely on guesswork to make the right noises at the right time. 

Not that it would have mattered. John was indeed being very rough with him, he could see his brother's glowing blue eyes reflect back in the mirror every time he paused to wipe the condensation off the glass. Occasionally some blood smeared into the water drops as John thudded him harder and found new areas to chew, in the reflection Gordon could see the bloody smears and just make out teeth marks. His lover would come back to already mauled areas as soon as they healed to tear at them again and with it sometimes chunks of flesh as if he was taking snack bites out of him. He hadn't considered himself being a fuckable buffet table but that sort of what the reality was.

Unless…

As John thrusted and pulled back for another 'love bite' Gordon's shape started to shift before his eyes. Beautiful russet and platinum fur began to coat his figure, the arms that were restrained contorted and reformed as paws and legs buckled forcing John to grab him as his legs transformed as well.

Suddenly everything that had had no feeling exploded with sensory input. He could feel his brother inside him though he had momentarily stopped in shock which wasn't surprising as how often do you find yourself intimately buried deep within a werewolf from behind in the shower. 

Now he whined and panted, tongue from his muzzle licking the water off the glass. 

His sopping wet tail wagged, slapping against John's bare skin as if to encourage him to continue with an unusual sounding howling yowl of encouragement.

John wasn't sure if he'd ever get use to Gordon being able to completely change his form like that, especially sprung it on him like this.

"Wow." he marveled, running his fingers over the bands of blonde in Gordon’s fur. "Are you a wolf or a tiger now?" He laughed. "Either way I think this wolf is in need of some pampering." He grabbed his brother's favourite shower gel and lathered the fur on his back and combed his fingers through the thick lush fur, as he regained and continued his rhythm.

There was a lot of panting and whining in excitement as Gordon's muzzle nuzzled the glass, enjoying the fact that he could feel everything again. It was strange that he only had physical sensations while in this shape but he wasn't complaining. It was a complete reversal from feeling nothing but the urge to kill and mindlessly mate and not enjoy the experience. 

It felt like such a long time since John gave him this much attention, though Gordon was often afraid to ask and hesitated to let people touch him unless he was bleeding heavily and needed medical assistance. Only his younger brother could really do so and even then it was rare he ever took the lead. 

College had scarred him in that regard.

It was why he was always playful or gentle with John. He knew where being rough would go and it wasn't a place he was willing to visit…. But he just let John get away with something worse just now didn't he?

Not exactly. He gave his younger brother permission to do what he did. The guys he brutally killed didn't.  They probably would have again if it wasn't for the fact that he shape shifted as he knew a party of witnesses wouldn't have stopped them.

Things he tried to not think about were vividly flooding his brain making him whine mournfully and his ears flatten submissively as his fur was being washed. He didn't deserve any of this attention.

As John finally reached that point of release he grabbed fistfuls of Gordon's fur as his body shook from it.

Even over his heavy breathing he could hear Gordon's whimpering. "Gordon, what's wrong?" He asked deeply concerned, this was definitely not the kind of response he was expecting when they were being intimate.

John turned the water off and got down on the floor in front of him. 

Gordon's body shifted back as he sank to the bottom of the shower, head resting on the glass.

"I don't know. Memories I thought I forgot are in my head clear as day now." He said, shuddering  "Good, bad doesn't matter. Everything hits you at once like a train slamming into you. I can't shut them off and they're messing with me. That and I just… I just let you bloody eat chunks of my dead flesh! That's…that's not NORMAL!"

He tilted his head from side to side and water seemed to pour out of his ears. Whether it was from the pool or the shower was hard to say but it did help to think without his brain drowning in water.  

"We're not normal anymore John, ok so we weren't REALLY normal before this but damn you and I are really messed up. Seriously you could chop my head off, have you devour half my corpse and have it ALL REGENERATE so you could do it all again until you puke from a stomach ache…and even though you don't have the ability to shift I swear if anyone threw a frisbee we'd both run after it on all fours to catch it and eat from a dog bowl."

"That could be one way to break all this to everyone, Gordon go long!" John makes a throwing action with his arm. "We'll kick every dog arse at fly-ball as well!" Even though he can't tell what Gordon’s thinking he adds, "If you wag your tail as well, I think it will go far in breaking the ice, who can resist when you do?"

Gordon gave John a look he only truly reserved for Alan when he said something so utterly ludicrous that still made sense. Usually it only came out when the two of them had been left alone after drinking a lot and somewhere along the lines lampshades on the head or something was being suggested as a 'good idea'.

"Well we wouldn't have to explain anything to anyone as it would definitely leave an impression."

"Don't forget to wag your tail." Gives Gordon a toothy grin that gives a nice display of his canines.

"Least I have self control. How many rugs have you peed on by the way?" Gordon grinned, poking John in the chest. "The couch definitely smelled of you marking it."

"It's my favourite couch. I'm just making sure everyone knows it, besides I've smelled your musk in my bed, been rolling around in it have you?" John raised an eyebrow. "By the way, does your hair grow like friggin crazy?" He knew he needed a haircut, it was past his ears now. "I feel like I have so much more now." he runs his fingers through it. "And not just on my head…" he gives Gordon a 'you know what I mean?' look.

"Really?" Gordon snorted. "Could have sworn that I didn't need to be a werewolf for that…"

"Did dad show you that video too? When he gives you the 'talk' why does hair grow there it's way worse than that."

"Video?" Gordon looked confused. "I recall birds and bees and thinking dad was nuts."

"I remember thinking, what if you like the bees and not the birds?" John quickly puts a hand over his mouth.

"I still don't understand, they don't have anything to do with sex. I learnt more from that stupid porn movie of Alan's than -"  Gordon coughed. "N-never mind that." He said hurriedly turning red.

"Besides, the only time I ever… well I…" Gordon gets up hurriedly trying not to slip over. "Look, I think we better get our story straight before they all come home ok?" He said changing the subject. Having that memory come up made him realise his first time didn't go so well either and that the only legitimate time he wasn't used by someone was with his younger brother and John did not need to know that.

John smiled amused when Gordon wasn't looking he'd have to spell it out and even then he still may not get it.

"Yeah" He said, stepping out and starting to dry himself off. "So where should we start from?"

***

"So let's start from the top." Jeff said slowly and very carefully to make sure he understood what was going on. "You got infected with a strange mutation of the rabies virus," he pointed to Gordon before pointing at John. "Then he bit and gave it to you-" 

"After shifting into a wolfman, dad."

"R-ight. So then back at the party those two you killed -"

"It was in self defence. They were trying to kill me."

"Ok."

"Then as a second creature John attacked Virgil and eventually Penelope who helped you with a cure."

"Which we both took. Though we gave it to Gordon a little on the late side." John spoke nervously out of turn. They had been standing in front of them trying to explain things for over an hour and it didn't seem to be getting anywhere other than Gordon and John being called liars and getting Virgil in trouble for being involved in this bizzare lie they had 'apparently fabricated'.

Gordon was getting a little fed up that they were being called 'liars' and getting chewed out. There were little tells like the twitch of his jaw, the wriggle of his nose though he was composing himself quite well unlike John would have liked to be. He had been balling his fists up tight and if it wasn't for the fact it would all go wahoonie if he snapped and let all the frustration fly he would have already burst and would probably be thrown in the pool to simmer off.

"For fucks sakes." Gordon spat and growled. "It would be nice to not HAVE to do this but you're going to make me aren't you? John, are you in the mood for something juicy, delectable and entirely off the menu that still tastes like bacon?" He said as he pulled off his shirt, making sure his brother got a whiff of the smell of carrion he had now as a permanent aroma, luckily thanks to the regeneration he was going to always smell freshly deceased. This also got a mortified look from Virgil though he was probably expecting something entirely different to what Gordon had in mind. One day Virgil, now is not the time to tell them THAT secret.

John was confused at first what Gordon was talking about, until he caught the scent of him.

No one in the room could fail to hear the deep growling from him, as he suddenly leaped on his brother and they fell to the floor. John may not have been able to shift but the wolf still lived beneath his skin, always trying to break free.

Sharpened teeth sunk into Gordon’s stomach and ripped him open before several pairs of hands were grabbing him and pulling him off him. He didn't know who he snapped at and caught someone's hand, snarling at them for dragging him off his meal.

"What the hell is wrong with you boy?!" Jeff demanded, holding his struggling son away from the clearly murdered one on the floor. Scott reeled back in pain with blood dripping from his newly acquired bite wound with Virgil restraining John's legs.

Alan and Tintin were on the floor, checking on Gordon until Tintin screamed and Alan backed away so fast you could swear he was desperate to find the nearest exit of the living room.

Gordon sat up, patted himself and was impressed at how much damage John had been able to do. As he picked himself up off the floor everyone could see his body mending itself, insides and all until it didn't look as if John had sliced him wide open and ate a huge portion of his intestines which were still hanging from his bare and bloodied hands.

"You know I'm so glad I didn't feel any of that." He said jovially, pulling back on his shirt. "But I think we proved our point."

In shock Jeff's grip loosened on John who seized the opportunity to try and get at Gordon again. Virgil stopped him by pinning him to the floor with arms behind his back and John yelped but it snapped him out of his blood lust.

"That was unfair, Gordon!" John shouted.It was an off-putting sight to see him covered in his brother's blood and telling him he went too far.

"Actually it's one hundred percent fair. Neither of us are really human anymore and it's pretty obvious they're not going to believe us without any proof. What else did you want me to do? Shape shift? This way is less scary than watching that happen."

John wanted to argue that it had made them both out to be freaks but it was true, otherwise why would he feel so excited by what he just did.

If Virgil hadn't stopped him he would have been ripping Gordon's clothes off, regardless of who was in the room.

He really hoped no one had noticed, it was also why he half heartedly struggled in Virgil's grip. Of course something dramatic had to be done to convince everyone, just not what they had planned.

"May as well get it all out in the open now!" He challenged, his frustration getting the better of him.

Gordon's eyes narrowed. No way was he going to go that far. He knew he'd be not just kicked off the island for admitting he committed another crime he'd easily be locked up as right now he had confessed to two murders and while they were in self defence, they could easily be spun the other way as there were no witnesses. If he admitted to a relationship with his own flesh and blood there wouldn't be a single thing he could do to stop them turning everything on him.

An eternity being undead with no way of ending the regeneration cycle was punishment enough. Seeing how everyone had recoiled away from him now, heck having Virgil pick John up off the floor and putting him between him and himself said more than any words could.

"At least you have a pulse." He said as he brushed past John to leave the room, Virgil making sure he held onto his younger brother tight to keep him as a shield.

No one spoke after Gordon left the room until John broke the silence. "His gone Virgil, you can stop hiding behind me." He pulled himself free from his grip. He needed a drink, so he went to the bar and poured himself one.

No one moved or tried to stop him as he did. "I'd have your blood tested." He said to Scott indicating his hand. "Just to be safe." He said as he took a sip which was starting to get a bit surreal with him clearly covered in blood, it all soaking through his shirt, staining his arms and his throat. Sure they weren’t strangers to blood in their line of work but it was unnerving to see it all over John… the Tracy Island neat-freak.

Scott froze and Virgil spat, "You're not fucking serious are you? You're still infected? After almost killing yourself with the cure? What was the point of it then?"

John picked up a packet of cigarettes off the bar that once belonged to Alan and asked, "You mind?" And without waiting for an answer John shrugged and lit one anyway. "I may not be an expert on this but the virus is a form of rabies or at least shares the DNA with it."

Taking a puff he added, "It's passes through saliva or blood but either way it has to make it into the bloodstream to infect someone. There it takes over the cells but it won't become truly active until the individual is exposed to certain wavelengths of light - like  moonlight for example." He then took a longer drag of the cigarette. 

"When it becomes active…ohhh boy  - not only does it cause a physical change, it has the ability to regenerate damaged tissue as well…" his voice trailed off letting that little piece of information sink in before he continued. "It takes over, changes your way of thinking and behavior like a parasite in your brain that you're completely unable to get control of. The longer the infection goes on it will cause permanent change mentally and physically to an individual and then they start to deteriorate, I predict - no can say with definite certainty - from cellular deterioration." He snorted before he tipped back and drained his glass. 

"So in answer to your question, if Gordon and I hadn't taken the 'cure' it would have killed us eventually, though -" John took a deep breath before continuing. "When were you planning on telling us Gordon was sick dad? Not just sick but needing multiple organ transplants? Was it going to be after your trip away? Or was it going to be never?"

Several pairs of eyes drifted across the lounge to stare at Jeff. 

"Wait… so all that stuff Gordon was telling me, that was going on BEFORE what happened at out party?" Alan twitched, barely able to contain his rage. He had been upset with himself for barely being able to be in the same room with him by himself as seeing one of his two favourite brother's in a bad way was something he couldn't cope with. In truth he was struggling with seeing John strutting around like a proud serial killer as he was behaving in a way that not only had him scared but worried for his own safety - something had NEVER felt around his other favourite brother before.

"Well dad I think everyone deserves an answer, don't you?" John asked, smiling with his canines showing so everyone was able to see he had something stuck in them and no one wanted to know what it was.

Virgil's face also had darkened. "You told me it was my fault for not being more careful on rescues. You mean it was ACTUALLY SOMETHING ELSE?"

Alan was quick to grab Virgil by the shirt but was dragged along the floor behind him as the large muscular Tracy stood to his full impressive height and towered over their father imposingly.

To their father's credit he didn't back down from the juggernaut that was Virgil. "Gordon asked me not to say anything. I was respecting his request".

"Respecting his request? Since when? You've NEVER been one to keep something this serious from us before! How long had we been making it worse doing rescues with him? He's gotten hurt almost every damn time over the past year!"

John pinched the bridge of his nose the scent of fear, anxiety and tension in the air along with the yelling was beginning to become overwhelming on his senses.

It was one of the reasons he'd stayed up on Thunderbird five, that and he hadn't trusted himself to be around the rest of his family, obviously he still wasn't ready to be …seeing how well it had all gone so far.

Right now he just wanted to retreat to his room and hide in his closet where it was quiet and maybe he could grab a shirt of Gordon's something with his scent to comfort him.

He slipped out of the room without anyone noticing to clean up and charge.

***

Gordon sat alone with his feet dangling in the pool in contemplation. He knew this wouldn't be easy but somehow this seemed a lot worse now that it was out. 

He knew he'd remember TinTin's scream and his other sibling's reactions till the end of humanity's time on Earth. He expected it but really nothing could have prepared him for it.

Another pair of legs were dangled into the pool, each toenail decorated in glittering nail varnish.

"Guess I won't be one of your bridesmaids."

TinTin rested her head on his shoulder. After a while she asked quietly "When did they tell you it was organ failure?"

Gordon looked straight ahead, staring out at the water gently licking the edges of the pool.

"After that volcano eruption in Hawaii when a huge chunk of rock trapped me inside the roll cage of the Firefly. All I was doing was digging a lava trench." He let out a strange death rattle sound as he attempted to expel air. "I told Dad that if Virgil was ever to do impromptu surgery that all those strange devices they had put in to keep my kidneys and liver functioning they were from that accident and he wasn't to touch them. Those off island trips we did every two months were for them to replace them."

"Jeff said you were on the organ recipient list."

"Was. After two heart attacks after some intensive rescues they decided I was too high a risk. I don't blame them, why give something so precious to someone who risks their life everyday who's body is completely failing?"

Gordon rested a hand on TinTin's knee. "I didn't want anyone to treat me differently, TinTin. Everyone avoided me already and it would have been insulting to have them suddenly treating me like I was more fragile than glass."

Gordon fell quiet and instead TinTin let him lean on her and they sat in silence for a while until Gordon asked, "So, what do the rest of your folks think of you getting married?"

TinTin smiled, aware that he was changing the subject on purpose. She didn't mind as she was used to him deflecting conversations about himself away and slightly surprised he was willing to talk about it at all.

"Well they think we should have a proper Malaysian wedding of course but Dad wasn't having that."

"Why not?"

"Because it would mean inviting my Dad's brother who had a falling out with him when my mother died. He's rich and very…. odd to say the least. The way Dad talks about him it's as if he has mind control powers of something - can you honestly imagine how silly that sounds!"

"I don't know TinTin. You're currently talking to a corpse so you tell me how daft it is."

This made her laugh. "You know sometimes I do wonder if things were different…"

"That we'd be married instead? Ha yeah in an alternative universe." Gordon chuckled. "I'm just happy you're my friend, TinTin."

Tintin gave him a playful shove. "Now look who's getting mushy! Actually, I wanted to ask you if you would be on the bridesmaid side. Not in a dress of course but at least in the same coloured outfit. Alan wants John to be his best man and well you ARE my best friend."

"Of course. You didn't even have to ask." Gordon playfully shoved back. 

"Even though your brother's will laugh considering they'll be Alan's groomsmen?"

Gordon shrugged. "I'd rather hold the flowers you chose and be dressed in pastel pink."

"It's baby blue actually and I agree." Tintin giggled.

"I don't know a pink dress…" John sat down with his back against Gordon's, offering him one of the beers he'd brought. He'd completely changed his outfit and even washed his hair out but the smell of blood lingered.

Gordon shook his head and John stopped TinTin when she tried to take it. "I wouldn't." he winked at her, Gordon and her both looked confused but John said nothing with a knowing smile as he took a sip of his drink.

If she didn't know yet he wasn't going to ruin the surprise or risk Alan and herself telling everyone. "Anyway you got the legs for it."

If Gordon could turn red he would have. It was bizarre to see him look so worked up without seeing his features change colour to match. "Like you can talk. You've got legs like a porcelain doll!" He snapped before it dawned on him. "But you're not the one who's breakable now are you? Guess that's one thing I don't have to worry about when we're rough-housing."

"What on Earth are you both on about?" TinTin frowned, giving them both playful shoves. "The way you two talk I swear you were sleeping with each other!"

Both Tracy's exchanged looks before Gordon gave her his typical mischievous grin. "Well occasionally we share the same bed. John still gets nightmares at night and still crawls under my covers-"

"Whoa, whoa Gordon you'll give her the wrong idea!" John layers it on thickly as he finds the thought horrifying. "Even if in college we only had one bed to sleep in, we agree Alan is the worst to share with" Throws his arms out. "Starfish we called him so many times he'd kick us right out but strangely Alan will happily sleep on the floor, so if you ever find him a pain…" Smiles deviously.

Gordon gave his brother a sharp jab in the back with his elbow as TinTin laughed when John yelped in surprise, only to then get soaking wet as Gordon decided to loop his arms around John's and pull him into the pool backwards when he dived in.

John quickly rose to the water's surface. "I just chang!-" He was cut off by a month full of water, coughing. He wiped his face and smiled deviously.

A water fight ensued between them, just some senseless fun but it put something into perspective that after everything they had been through, the situation hadn’t changed who they are at the core - just threw a spanner into the machine.

***

“Dark blue velvet huh? Almost makes me wish I was on Alan’s side of the wedding party.” Gordon chuckled, brushing some lint off John's shoulder. “You look amazing in that.” he growled playfully. “Got the rings all ready to go?” He reached over to collect his jacket from where he left it on a chair. It was soft pastel blue, something that did indeed go well with a baby pink lacy shirt. TinTin did take a little bit of John’s advice to heart but not enough to go all out and put him in a dress. He also picked up the bridal flower bouquet he was supposed to hold and gave it a bit of a sniff. At least dead orchids were better than smelling of fresh carrion and he insisted that TinTin let him mask the pong.

He looked back at John and smiled. Man, did he look incredible. The virus had done him the world of good, he stood at his full height now which towered over Gordon thanks to his spine recovering, his body had filled out and was more muscular and defined… and there was this look of wondrous confidence about him now that it had made everyone’s heads turn his way and check him out more than they did before.

Gordon gave him a kiss on the lips. “Hope you look this good when we decide to do a wedding in Vegas, you and I.” he whispered into his ear.

John smiled at Gordon as he put his arms around him. "I can't wait." Pulling him closer he inhaled the scent of him before licking Gordon's neck savouring the taste.

It had been an interesting month for everyone to get used to living with the supernatural, with International Rescue unoperational and the family trip cut short everyone was at home on Tracy island.

At first John and Gordon tried to keep out of everyone's way especially with John eating a raw food diet while Gordon not even remotely having to eat at all. They were barely apart, Gordon’s presence helped calm the beast that lingered under John’s skin, as well as wanting to just be with him as much as possible before he would have to return to duty on Thunderbird Five.

John found himself heading to the beach alot being in his brother’s company - though it should have been expected however it was mostly so that sharks didn’t see his sibling as a free lunch - but mostly because it’s where his brother felt the most free to let himself loose on all fours. Knowing that he was dead and that John was a murderous killer at the flip of a coin was enough for them to deal with so they mostly kept the furry four legged tail wagging part of Gordon to themselves… Besides, Virgil was terrified of dogs since his encounter with the white werewolf so it was better not to scar him any further.

All the time in the sun meant John got a tan like he never had before. It was strange to see on the palest of the Tracys, his hair bleached by the sun further than the usual platinum white that but no could tell if was from the sun alone.

As everyone became accustomed to their new way of being they had seemed to decide that John needed some looking after and other distractions to occupy his mind, he had been caught more than once listening in on radio chatter so Virgil had dragged him to the gym with him which felt like it was punishment for all the physio he hadn't done, but he couldn’t argue with the results.

“Are you coming or not?” Gordon gave his younger brother a shove. TinTin will NEVER get to walk down that aisle if we don’t get our arse’s in gear!”

John patted his pocket for the fifteenth time checking the rings were still there. "Alright then" Says offering Gordon his arm. "Shall we?"