Cheering up
It was something that worked pretty much every time.
John was their polyglot, constantly learning and mastering new languages as he strove to communicate with everyone who called for help. Automatic translators helped a lot, but there was something to be said (heh) about being able to speak to someone in their own language, mastering nuance, regional accent and idiom. As a result of his learnings he collected strange words and phrases of interest, sharing them with his family.
There was one particular one that Alan had tucked away for days just like this.
It had been A Day. That was the only way to describe it. Just one of those days where every minute feels twice as long and by the end of it you feel drained and just so absolutely Done. There hadn't even been anything particularly bad about it, just a bunch of Things that took more out of everyone than they had a right to and made everyone feel vaguely guilty for feeling this Done over Things that on their own were so little that they didn't feel like they could justify being in such a mood about. Tempers had gotten short as people ran out of energy and once everyone got home, people just scattered to have their own bad moods in their own private little hidey holes- Virgil in his art studio, Gordon down at his favourite cove, Scott up on one of the peaks, Kayo to the gym. You could almost see the hovering storm clouds.
Alan sprawled outside on the still warm patio and looked up to where he could see the glint of reflected light that was Thunderbird 5 tracking across the night sky. John had had the worst day out of all of them, he'd hid it well, but Alan had learned to speak Big Bro #2 a long time ago- all the little shifts of eyes and shoulders and the nuance of tone that told him his fellow Space Bro was Really Done.
Time to fix that. Alan grinned as he rolled onto his belly, grabbed his phone to check the time -good, it was just before John's scheduled bed time- and selected the audio-only link to Five.
Technically it wasn't the actual Welsh word for 'microwave' but a colloquialism, but the sheer onomatopoeic nature of it amused John, so that made it worth remembering. He only deployed it occasionally, lest it lose its effectiveness, but today definitely called for it.
"Hey John?" Alan asked as soon as the connection was secure.
"Yes, Alan?" Though John did well to mostly hide it, every letter dripped with weariness.
"Popty ping."
The muffled snort turned into a chuckle which turned into the rare full on laughter from John as his bad mood evaporated. Eventually it subsided but Alan could hear the smile lingering as John spoke again.
"Thanks Alan, I needed that."
"You're welcome, bro." Alan grinned back. "Sleep well."
"You too."