Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds.

Prompt from janetm74: "I can never find my own pulse, I think I'm dead" with Gordon

"Whatcha doing?"

Alan glanced up at his brother as the older blond peered over the back of the sofa to regard him with curious amber eyes.

"Biology homework," he shrugged, rolling his eyes and returning his attention to Kayo's wrist. He wasn't a fan of homework in general, but this particular piece was rather ridiculous. It wasn't like he wasn't a member of International Rescue or anything.

"Ah, yes." Gordon – at least – seemed to agree with him that it was pointless. "I remember that one."

The tone of voice made it sound like Gordon had a story to go with it.

"Alan, concentrate," his sister told him. "You're supposed to be counting."

He huffed. "Are you sure I can't just use a VSM?" he wheedled, but Kayo just raised an eyebrow at him and he deflated.

"'Your classmates don't have access to VSM'," Gordon parroted, as though it was something he'd been told before, too.

"Gordon?" Kayo interjected, her voice all sunny in a way that screamed danger. "Shut up."

"What?" his brother demanded. "It's true!"

"Gordon."

"Fine, fine, I can see where I'm not wanted," Gordon huffed dramatically. "Have fun counting by hand."

Alan heard his footsteps recede, and looked up at Kayo, who rolled her eyes affectionately. "Just get it over with, Alan. Preferably before Gordon comes back."

"F.A.B.," Alan sighed. "Okay, start the stop watch on my mark… Mark."

Under his fingers, her pulse thrummed, steady and relaxed. It was the sort of pulse that Alan would love to ever actually record on a mission, but generally people whose pulses needed measuring in the danger zone were in far too much of a panic to have a stable heartbeat.

A minute of manually counting every single beat – seventy in total – later, he jotted the number down on his tablet and leaned back.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she smiled. "What are sisters for? Although I'm surprised you didn't ask Virgil."

Alan shuddered. "Virgil would have taken it way too seriously." His dark-haired brother was a goldmine of information when it came to this sort of homework, but a trip to the infirmary over a simple assignment to measure two pulses and compare them was excessive.

That got a laugh out of her. "That's true. Want me to time you?"

"Sure." Alan burrowed his fingers into his own wrist, finding his radial pulse with the ease of someone who'd had to do it many times in training – take that, stupid schoolwork – and nodding at her.

"And… Mark."

He got up to forty two when a blond whirlwind reappeared and insistently squished itself onto the sofa next to him, sandwiching him between his brother and Kayo and making him lose both his grip and his count.

"Gordon!"

"You know," his brother mused, seemingly unbothered by his siblings' irritation at the interruption. "I can never find my pulse." His wrist was brandished in front of Alan, devoid of its usual bands. "I think I'm dead."

"Wish you were dead," Alan muttered, shoving the hand out of his face and turning to face Kayo again, who had a look of mischief forming on her face.

"That can be arranged," she agreed, and next to him he felt Gordon stiffen as his brother realised he'd made a mistake. "It's any two, isn't it, Alan?"

He nodded.

Gordon bolted.

Kayo pounced.

The resulting crash had Scott and Virgil hurtling into the room, but Alan ignored them as he crouched next to the pancaked aquanaut, Kayo perched on top of Gordon like a self-satisfied cat.

"Let's see if you're actually dead, Gordo," he smirked, catching hold of the same wrist that had been flailed in his face moments earlier and pressing his fingers to where the radial pulse should be.

In Gordon's defence, it wasn't exactly where it should be, but it was within normal parameters – which his brother knew full well; they'd undergone the same first aid training after all – and Alan grinned victoriously. "Looks like you're not dead after all. Kayo?"

"Ready on your mark," she confirmed. Gordon groaned dramatically beneath her.

"Mark."

A minute, and sixty eight of Gordon's heart beats later, Alan was poking at his tablet, inputting the second set of results, entirely unsurprised when both resting rates – if Gordon's could be counted as a resting rate, seeing as he'd just been attacked – came up as lower than average. That was just what he got for picking the two most physically active residents of the island.

"Are you going to get off now?" Gordon asked, and Alan glanced back to see that Kayo was still perched delicately on top of him.

"Make me," she challenged.

Alan ignored the resulting kerfuffle between his siblings and returned to the sofa, where Scott and Virgil had apparently parked themselves after realising what was going on.

"Well, this is a lot tamer than when Gordon had to do that assignment," Scott commented, leaning back with his arm hooked over the back of the sofa. Next to him, Virgil snorted.

"That was at least partially your fault."

"Was not."

"Uh huh, sure."

Curiosity overrode Alan's sense of responsibility to do his work, and he leaned over, interested. "What happened?"

"Well-"

"Finish your work, Alan," Scott said, with a warning glare at Virgil that proved there was something behind Virgil's claims that Scott had contributed to whatever chaos Gordon's version of the homework had prompted.

Alan knew his brothers well enough to know that he wouldn't be getting the story – yet. He'd just pin down Gordon later, once his fellow blond finished his bizarre wrestling match with Kayo, and get it out of him, instead.

Gordon had seemed eager to share it earlier; if it involved embarrassing Scott, Alan wasn't surprised in the least.

So, fun fact, I'm also one of those people whose radial pulse is just weird and refuses to be where it should be - I can never find it either!

This was supposed to be Gordon. Alan decided to take over. Scott was supposed to be the token older sibling hanging around. Kayo kicked him out of that role and took it for herself. I don't even know what's going on right now, but there is family fluff, Gordon's still the one that says the line, and that's all that matters, right?

As for what happened when it was Gordon's homework... stay tuned, because that's on its way tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!
Tsari