Falling asleep in front of a movie in the living room is nothing new. The Tracy's have been doing it since their youngest was a toddler. They'll all sprawl in front of the television after a hard day, junk food and banter readily available, picking the worst movie they can possibly find and tearing it to pieces until the laughter chases away the stress. Once the relaxation kicks in, they crash, nodding off to sleep one by one.
Of course, the tradition continues after John's first rotation up in Thunderbird 5. It's been a long month, with International rescue newly formed. There've been rescues, and mistakes, and new experiences and it's been harrowing, to say the least. The pressure is high, and while they love the exhilaration, it's been hard.
Their father gives them the night off, and in true spirit, they convene in the living room with enough popcorn and candy and soda to feed an army. Gordon picks out an ancient horror movie with more fake blood than should be acceptable, and they laugh and poke and throw popcorn at each other until they stop seeing the real life horrors that are going to be their new reality.
Alan falls asleep first, on the floor against Scotts legs, a piece of licorice hanging out of his mouth until his big brother rescues it, cringing at the saliva. John is the next to go, the familiar company he's so missed this last month lulling him to sleep much quicker than normal. He's claimed the good armchair, as well as the popcorn, because he "deserves it after space food", and almost drops the whole bowl until Virgil steals it off of him at the last second.
At Johns feet, him and Gordon continue their now hushed argument over how realistic man eating bugs really are. More popcorn is being thrown at each other than is being eaten, and Scott glances at them occasionally, too exhausted to do anything other than lie stationary with a fond smile until he falls asleep, his youngest brother a warm weight against his legs.
Soon, there is silence. Virgil falls asleep tipped over Gordon's legs, and his younger brother rolls his eyes at him tiredly before going back to the movie. Scott smiles, closing his eyes and wondering wether he should mute the sound, although it seems to make no difference to his dozing brothers.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what happens next. There's a woman screaming, and the sound cuts to an alarm clock, and suddenly there's a gasp and frantic shuffling. Scott's eyes whip open and he lurches up in time to see John jump out of his seat, trip and fall over a sleeping Virgil who's eyes bulge open with a pained gasp, and bash his head on the coffee table.
"John!"
He's out of his seat in a flash, dislodging a yelping Alan and getting on his knees next to John, who's groaning and clutching his head. Gordon is already there, John half sprawled on him.
"Jeez, are you okay?"
"Nnnh, yeah" he groans out, blinking his eyes open. Virgil immediately moves forward to check his pupils, producing a penlight out of nowhere.
"They look fine." He declares, moving his finger in front of John's eyes. John obediently follows, looking mildly frustrated. The fact that he's awake and getting annoyed is enough to send a wave of relief through Scott, and he sits back. There's no break in skin even, just the beginnings of a goose egg,
"John, what the hell were you doing?"
"I..." John seems confused for a second, and then his face morphs into something...sheepish? "I just...had to go the bathroom really bad"
Gordon just looks at him. "You bashed your head because you had to pee?"
"I was sleepy, I didn't pay attention."
Everyone just stares at John, who's blushing now. He's never been a very good liar, and with all the scrutiny, it's only a matter of time.
"Alright, fine!" He snaps, with the air of a person who knows he's going to get tortured. "I heard an alarm and I forgot where I was!"
Gordon is the first one to connect the dots, and he starts sputtering with laughter. Everyone else just looks at John until he sighs.
"It sounded like the alarm on Thunderbird 5″ He mumbles, glaring sullenly at Gordon, curled up on the floor laughing.
Alan joins him at the words, and Scott finds himself unable to resist. The picture of John, panicked and flailing as he fell over, has a whole new meaning and he finds himself cackling.
John is very close to pouting, and Virgil just gives him a sympathetic look and pats him on the shoulder, but stops mid pat with a gasp of pain, other hand dropping the penlight and curling around his side.
"Virg?" Concern bubbles up in Scott again as he see's Virgil pale in even the dim light. His younger brother waves him off, face set in a grimace.
"I'm fine...John kinda kicked me awake."
John looks horrified, straightening up and reaching out to Virgil. "Shit, I did. Pretty hard, too, are you okay?"
Scott's already lifting up his brothers shirt, running his hands over the newly forming bruise. Virgil's breath hitches in his throat as Scott's fingers feel for breaks, sounding as if he's holding back a moan.
"I don't think anything's broken. Definitely bruised."
"Jesus, Virg." John just stares at Virgil, guilt heavy on his face "I'm so sorry."
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Virgil sighs, sitting back gingerly. "I'm pretty sure that goose egg is punishment enough."
"You two are unbelievable. A whole month of burning buildings and earthquakes and space, and everyone comes out in one piece, and one movie night and you both hurt yourself?"
Really, it's ridiculous, and Scott feels he's rightfully annoyed. The reaction is instantaneous.
"I didn't do anything, John's the one who kicked me!"
"What...I said I was sorry! And you were the one lying in my way!"
"I fell asleep! I didn't know your space-addled brain would forget it was on Earth!"
"I wouldn't have tripped and hit my head if you hadn't been in the way!"
"Guys..."
"You wouldn't have tripped and hit your head if you weren't a clumsy oaf!"
"How is it clumsy to trip over your idiot younger brother sleeping on the damn floor?"
Scott can feel two pairs of amused eyes on him, and he's pretty sure if he gives in to the urge to roll his eyes, he'll do it too hard and they'll get stuck that way. Ever the picture of maturity, he just presses the button on his watch to get brains to come check his supposedly adult brothers out.
And maybe give him some sleeping pills. And aspirin. Maybe even some ear plugs...
There are no more incidents for the two weeks John is down. Him and Virgil, both the most laid back members of the family, instantly go back to normal after Brains diagnoses a bruised rib and a mild concussion and their father can't do anything but laugh helplessly at the story.
Scott has to resist the urge to face palm or roll his eyes every time he sees the bruise on John's forehead or Virgil grimacing when he moves the wrong way. It doesn't stop him from cuffing each of his younger brothers whenever they grin at his long-suffering look of despair.
When John comes down for a break, Gordon meets him at the hangar and clutches at his leg, begging his older brother to make some freshly baked gingerbread cookies. Apparently, no one can make them quite like John does, and couldn't his favorite big brother just bake him some this very day because he's clearly dying without it. He doesn't let up until John loses his balance from a clingy kid brother dragging behind him as he tries to walk, and Gordon sits on him for a few minutes until his older brother finally agrees (and threatens to launch him into space if he doesn't get off, but hey, it worked).
Two hours later, John finds himself slumped on the kitchen counter, in the oven. He's so tired he can't see straight, but he's never been able to refuse Gordon. He's his kid brother, and everyone (including Gordon), knows John's got a soft spot for him. Still, it feels good to do something normal. His days seem to consist of frantic rescue calls and maintenance, and it seems strange to do something as ordinary as baking.
He's perfectly aware the cookies will take over an hour, and he could easily use that time to get cleaned up and maybe get something to eat, but he's got his head pillowed in his arms and the smell of gingerbread lingering is so homely comforting that John nods off before he even realizes it.
Family members go in and out of the kitchen, seeing their resident astronaut dozing at the counter, hands and clothes covered in flour and blond hair flopping everywhere. They sigh or coo, and quietly get what they came for and leave. Everyone knows how tired he's been, so no one is willing to wake him up.
The oven timer has no such qualms, and goes off right when the two hours are up, the shrill beeping piercing the quiet kitchen atmosphere.
Gordon had been at the oven, peeking in and counting down with glee to the moment his precious cookies would be done, hands mitted and ready. He does a little wiggle of glee the moment the timer goes off, but then he's distracted by sudden movement.
He turns back to see John straighten up out of the stool he's sitting on so fast, it seems to tip over to the side. There's a weird moment where they lock eyes, and Gordon can see the stool tipping, and it seems like Johns figured out whats happening and subconsciously moves his upper body to the opposite side to compensate, but the it's tipped too far and his older brother is just...falling over with his body in an almost forty five degree angle, arms flailing.
It's like watching a train wreck, where you know what's happening, but you just can't look away.
It's also the greatest moment of his young life.
There's an almighty crash when the stool and John make contact with the flood, and Gordon can only stare comically, mitten covered hands still raised towards the oven, before he's laughing so hard and so suddenly he starts choking, but he still can't stop.
John's a groaning heap on the floor, disorientated and still half asleep, but seemingly okay. He looks up at the beeping alarm, and his red headed terror prone on the floor with laughter, and collapses back down on the floor again with a groan.
He can hear footsteps rushing toward the kitchen, and he just knows deep in his heart his loving family is never going to let him live this down.
He should have stayed up in Thunderbird Five, he muses, hip throbbing and the smell of burnt cookies starting to make its way into the air.
Gravity was much kinder to him up there.
The thing with John is, he's gotten used to waking up to a blaring siren and immediately going into action mode. The others are often rudely awoken as well, but they have the luxury of accountability. If one of them doesn't wake up immediately, one of the others will come and literally drag their asses out of bed. Subconsciously, they all know this. John, however, does not have this luxury.
If he sleeps through a call, no one will know. If he doesn't get out of bed immediately, a few precious seconds might be lost that could result in tragedy. The fear of devastation that is solely his fault is deeply ingrained in him, and with good reason.
The thing is, he can't really turn that instinctual reflex off.
The other thing is, his brothers are now fully aware of this.
At 2 o'clock on a sunny afternoon, John is currently enjoying a mid-day nap. He's slathered on enough sunscreen for a whole family, put on his straw hat that everyone maintains he stole from grandma (he didn't), and is now firmly and peacefully asleep.
Scott, Gordon and Alan, on the other hand, linger in the house right behind the glass doors. Furious whispering gives way to glares and eye rolls, shoulders are shoved, and money is handed over. This is a very intense moment for them all, and their father pausing to ask what is happening doesn't distract any of them.
A few seconds later, Alan sneaks out from behind the doors. He can feel his brothers watching him, none of them daring to breathe too loudly. Even his dad is standing behind them, trying not to look interested but clearly as invested in this as the rest of them. Sitting on the diving board, Virgil waits patiently, pleased to be able to witness this and not be too involved.
Getting to right behind John's chair, Alan hears the tell tale snores. Grinning evilly, he holds up his weapon of choice. The air horn screams into the air.
John doesn't disappoint. He leaps out of the chair, book dropping from his lap onto the floor, and takes off into a run. This only lasts two steps before he's at the edge of the pool, and he shoots out into the water, legs pumping furiously.
Virgil, recording on his phone, can't breathe through the laughter. John makes it a good five feet over the edge before he realizes what's happening, his face morphing into a look of absolute horror and hysteria before blonde hair disappears into the water with an almighty splash.
"I am going to kill you all!" John roars as he resurfaces, blonde hair plastered on his forehead and spitting out water. Gordon is holding onto the door frame, tears streaming out of his eyes, and Scott is chuckling. Their dad tries to look disapproving.
"He got to five and a half feet! Pay up suck..oh shit!" John leaps out of the pool faster than he'd expected, fueled by fury, and chases a cackling Alan around the pool. Virgil laughs so hard at the playback on his phone that he falls off the diving board, right around the time John catches up to his younger brother and dunks him in as well.
Jeff stands behind all the pandemonium, still trying to look disapproving as Scott and Gordon race into the pool, mimicking Johns flying-running leap in, but even he can't hold in his smile. He walks out to his blonde son, who's clearly already over it but is trying to still look angry. John's never been one for grudges.
He claps him over the shoulder, and John turns to him. His eyes narrow.
"I'm disappointed son. I expected at least six feet."
His son gives him the blankest look he's ever seen on him. Jeff gives the most convincing sigh he can manage, and dramatically looks away towards his sons watching the video footage in the pool.
"Good thing I'm a billionaire."
The one time John is too slow to respond to an alarm is the day a plane disappears. By the time John has raced to the control panel, heart thudding in his throat because he knew he shouldn't have fallen asleep but he was so tired and he's been reassured everything was fine, it is too late. By the time he flips the switch to receive the broadcast, he is only in time to hear the voice that has seen him through every day of his life, and hears it crack in fear in a way John has only witnessed a handful of times. He only hears one word.
"-John-!"
And then it cuts off, and the red dot still moving on his screen blips away. Johns fingers are furiously working, trying to locate the signal but its gone. Lights are blinking and John vaguely registers that it is his family trying to reach him but the one person who should still be talking to him is missing. Johns scouring through the flight plan faster than he's ever gone, but there's nothing. There isn't a single sign of the Tracy One.
John tries and tries for what feels like hours, but the blank screen stares back at him until somehow he's on the floor, numb and unable to see through the tears flooding his eyes. Voices are trying to get his attention through his watch, but none of them are his fathers, and John clenches his fists to his face and cries.