Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds.
Sicktember Prompt 24: Sneezing, with John and Virgil (requested by anonymous) and Jeff and Lucille (requested by uniwolfcorn)
Lucille sighed fondly as she reached the driveway and headed for the front door. One son safely deposited at school, two at home. Nothing out of the ordinary, considering the sons in question were six, four and two respectively, but she just knew that today was going to be particularly exhausting, even with the energetic eldest ensconced at school to be hopefully tired out by home time (unlikely, but she could hope).
Said eldest hadn't been particularly pleased about going to school today, and had kicked up quite the fuss about it. Not that Lucille could say she was surprised about that fact – Scott adored his father, and Jeff had only been home on leave for two days. It was far too soon to be leaving him again, in Scott's mind.
There was also the fact that both of his little brothers were showing signs of being unwell, which only made Lucille more determined to keep Scott out of the way before he caught it as well. If they were lucky, it was something he'd already caught, but it was always better safe than sorry.
Besides, she thought wryly as she opened the door to be greeted by an explosive atchoo!, her youngest sons weren't the only ones that seemed to be coming down with something.
The answering sneezes were much quieter – high pitched and almost cute, although at least the elder of the two was old enough to be mortified if she said that out loud – and almost in unison.
All three of her boys – sons and husband – were huddled up on the couch together. They made quite the picture, bundled up in blankets, although the thing that had Lucille's heart melting was how they were huddled.
John had never been shy about making his opinion on physical contact known. He tolerated it but rarely sought it, and was very particular about who was allowed in his personal bubble. The only one he seemed to suffer willingly at any time was Scott – Virgil, grandparents, and even both his parents, were just as likely to receive a Look if they attempted to invade as they were permission to approach. On the contrast, Virgil was clingy and liked to constantly be with someone – again, Scott was clearly the favourite, but unlike John he was also perfectly happy with any adult, and John himself if he could manage it.
On the couch, both sniffly and miserable about the fact that they couldn't stop sneezing – John in particular seemed to find it an affront, but Virgil was also clearly less cheerful than usual – the two young boys were cuddled together, John's arms tightly around Virgil, who had one thumb in his mouth and the other fist bunched in John's pyjamas.
That by itself was quite frankly adorable, but to complete the picture, neither boy was actually in contact with the couch. Instead, they were both securely held on Jeff's lap, with his arms wrapped around them.
If she was honest with herself, the matching red noses made it even more adorable.
John sneezed again, face scrunched up like a cat that had just put a paw in water by mistake, and she buried the amusement at his sheer offended reaction to pull out a tissue and offer it to him. Following his brother, Virgil let out his own sneeze – seeming more astounded that his nose could do that than upset – and a second tissue was deployed to wipe at her youngest son's nose.
Some things inevitably came in threes, and she was slapping a third tissue into Jeff's hand with a warning look before he even started the half-inhales that heralded another explosive Dad Sneeze. He barely caught it in time, and with one hand no longer encircling his sons, Virgil was almost dislodged from his lap by the sharp jerk of his body. John clung to him tightly enough to keep him in place, sending a disgruntled look at his father, who chuckled nervously before gathering them back into his arms.
Lucille sighed fondly again – it was going to be a long day, even with Scott out from underfoot for several hours – and busied herself with leaving fresh tissue boxes in Jeff's reach and then the unfortunately necessary task of gathering up discarded tissues that hadn't managed to make it into the bin.
The bin in question was moved closer to the couch with a pointed look at Jeff.
"Sorry, Luce," he muttered sheepishly. "The boys made aiming hard."
She shook her head, laughing lightly. Of course her ridiculous husband didn't dare move with two sons on his lap.
It was true that the trio all had colds, and no doubt complaints were going to start once noses reached a certain level of soreness and the boys tried to get parents to create a miracle cure for that, but all memories of her family were precious, especially when most of them were together.
Her phone wasn't a professional camera, but it was good enough for a quick shot of the three of them. No doubt later Scott would muscle his way in as well, no matter what she tried to tell him about not getting too close to his ill brothers, and that would certainly be worth another photo. It simply wasn't possible to have too many photos of her boys, after all.
In the meantime, she had the roles of mother and wife to fill. While Jeff was perfectly capable of functioning with a mild cold, there was no way she'd successfully separate him from his sons, but Lucille didn't mind that.
Their boys all cherished their rare time with their father. If a cold was what it took to get that time for two of them, then who was she to begrudge it?
More fluff than sick - the anon request came through first and I was trying to figure out what to do with that, and then the pieces fell together into a wee!Tracys fic when their parents got added into the mix!
I'm dabbling in Sicktember over on tumblr! Only doing prompts that I get a character request for, so feel free to drop by with a request. You can find the list on the sicktember tumblr blog!
Thanks for reading!
Tsari