Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds.

Characters: Virgil, Alan. Rating: K. Warnings: None.

Drabble challenge from weathergirl8: "shielding the other one with their body" and "holding onto the other's shoulder for support" with Virgil and Alan.

Scott wasn't there. Virgil knew that, but he still instinctively looked around for their eldest brother, half-expecting him to materialise out of nowhere. After all, there was a little brother in trouble, so it wouldn't be out of the question for him to miraculously appear.

But Scott wasn't there, no matter how much Virgil might have wished he was, but Virgil was, and just because he wasn't Scott didn't mean he wasn't Alan's big brother.

"Hey," he said, feeling larger than usual as the assailants all turned their attention to him. Virgil wasn't used to being the tallest, but when he was surrounded by a bunch of preteens with neither of his big brothers in sight, he was head and shoulders above everyone else. "What are you doing?"

"Virgil!" Alan scrambled to his feet, one eye already purpling. Virgil hadn't seen who - or what - had caused it, but he didn't need to know specifics to know it hadn't been an accident and that the crowd of presumably eleven to twelve year olds contained the culprit.

There were some things that seemed universal, and despite everything else in their life, one of those constants was bullies. Virgil had been picked on in his childhood, he was fairly sure John had, too, and while Gordon had been quick to prove why picking on him was a bad idea, even the fish had found himself on the receiving end once or twice. Alan seemed to be no exception, and despite Virgil's preference for staying out of trouble, he wasn't going to stand back and watch.

"Well?" he demanded, striding through the gathering until he was standing directly in front of Alan, his little brother safely ensconced behind his bulk. "I asked a question."

The kids looked at each other, none of them seeming willing to answer. Virgil crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"Jus' playin'," one eventually muttered sullenly.

"Playing?" Virgil repeated, and watched the kids shuffle awkwardly. Behind him, he could feel Alan pressing against him, not yet old enough to protest at big brothers fighting his battles for him. Then again, none of them were old enough for that, except maybe Gordon and the fiery temper he shared with their biggest brother. "Is this your idea of fun?"

They shuffled around some more in front of him. Some of the kids on the fringe of the group melted into the background, clearly deciding they didn't want to hang around any longer. Virgil let them go.

"No?" The fact that it was a question told him that the designated spokeskid knew they were in the wrong.

"Then you won't be doing this again?"

The entire cohort shook their heads, even if some of them still looked slightly mulish. Virgil decided that would do for now and turned his back on them, looking down at his little brother, whose blue eyes were wide.

"Come on, Allie," he coaxed, putting an arm on his shoulder. "Let's go home."

Alan nodded, a small smile forming on his face. Virgil glanced over him to make sure he wasn't too badly hurt before guiding him away.

"Coward!"

The call was a violent hiss. Virgil paused, a frown settling over his face.

"Hiding behind your brother."

"Wimp."

Beside him, Alan twisted in his hold, wriggling free and turning back to look at his tormentors.

"Al-"

"You're just jealous," his little brother retorted, back straight and looking nothing like the victim he'd been moments earlier. The change was somewhat startling. "You wish you had big brothers as awesome as mine."

Something warm and fuzzy curled up in Virgil's chest and he smiled down at Alan, who caught the look and returned it.

"Come on, Virgil." A small, skinny arm reached up until it was gripping his shoulder. "Let's go."

Slightly surprised, but mostly bemused at Alan's apparent change in attitude, Virgil let the small blond lead him away, stooping down slightly so he didn't have to strain quite so much to reach his shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" he asked quietly once the kids were out of earshot. Alan shrugged.

"Nothing to worry about," he said, all sunshine smile. The bruise forming around his eye contradicted those words, and Virgil was dreading Scott's reaction when he saw it, but Alan didn't seem to care about it at all. Not even a stumble over what Virgil quickly ascertained was just a pebble he'd caught wrong seemed to faze his brother - although Virgil's shoulder found itself caught in a death grip as Alan tried not to fall over.

"I'm still checking you over when we get home," he said, and Alan sighed.

"I'm fine, Virgil."

The words were familiar, carbon copies of one of Scott's favourite phrases when he came back covered in bruises from a training session gone wrong, and Virgil rolled his eyes.

"I'll be the judge of that."

My tricky boys, who always give me a bit of a challenge - also a very familiar prompt at this point, which I tried to fit into yet another different scenario.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari