Flufftober prompt 20: Bedtime Stories

But then the alarm sounded and Virgil was yelling and all hell broke loose around him.

Alan went from relaxing against John to clinging to him again as Grandma spoke to EOS. Her calm voice helped him to ground himself as much as the feel of his brother's textured suit did under his fingers.

And when he finally heard all his absent brothers report in Alan found he could breathe again.

Virgil's shout, prompted by a scream in his ear from EOS, had been quick enough for both Scott and Gordon to make sure they were on the platform as Virgil pulled Two higher as fast as he safely could.

No one was buried. No one injured apart from those injured initially. A quick drop-off to the local hospital and they would be home.

Now that the adrenaline rush was gone Alan found himself crashing pretty hard. His yawns were getting bigger and more frequent, and before he even knew it he'd leant once more against John and closed his eyes.

He didn't register John move his arm to make Alan more comfortable.

He didn't register Two arriving home.

The next thing Alan knew was two strong familiar arms carrying him to bed. A part of him wanted to point out that he wasn't a baby anymore – he was fifteen for goodness sake and flew a rocket! – but a bigger part of him was enjoying the feeling, and Alan moved minutely to get more comfortable. The arms tightened a little more.

The room he was carried to was not his own, which was no surprise given that his bed was covered in stuff and while Alan didn't mind sleeping on the floor at all he knew his brothers frowned about it.

Faint smells Alan associated with Scott told him which room he was in, and really he wasn't surprised. Someone else was there because Scott paused while the bed covers were turned down before depositing him gently. Then he was covered up and Scott was sitting on the bed beside him.

A plaid-covered arm told him that the person who sat the other side of him was Virgil, and Alan wiggled until he was resting on Virgil's chest and could see Scott. Another dip in the bed and a hand on his hip told him Gordon had also joined them, and Alan snaked a hand down to hold his squid brother's. John then appeared in his eyeline, sitting at the bottom of the bed on Scott's side and Alan watched as he passed Scott a tattered book before resting a hand on Alan's ankle.

He let out a contented sigh and closed his eyes. It had been a while since anyone had read him a bedtime story, and Alan was going to make the most of it.

'Sprockets was born on the assembly line at the robot factory owned by the Consolidated Mechanical Men Corporation. His birth, or rather his putting together, was entirely an accident, and was the last thing anyone wanted. Here is how it happened:…'

Alan was asleep before Scott even finished the first paragraph, warm and comforted in the embrace of all his brothers.

*The book Scott is reading is called "Sprockets: A Little Robot by Alexander Key.