Alan peeked out from beneath the light blanket that had been draped over him and Tin-Tin after they fell asleep in the sun lounger by the pool and was quick to shield his eyes from the bright morning light. Ducking back under the blanket, Alan waited to let his eyes adjust gradually and he grinned boyishly when he felt more than saw Tin-Tin shift her head where she was resting on his midsection. He moved one of his legs and hissed.
Bad idea. Note to self, never try to move your leg no matter how numb it feels.
Hearing a grumble from beneath the blanket, Alan lifted said blanket to peer at the person who had mistook him for a pillow the night previous and he leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. Tin-Tin stirred from her slumber and grinned up at Alan.
"Morning babe." Alan whispered.
"G'Mornin Al." Tin-Tin mumbled before she stretched languidly, causing Alan to wince and hiss. "What's wrong?"
"My leg is asleep." Alan replied as he felt the blood rushing back into his extremities. Tin-Tin sat up, taking the blanket with her and she stretched again before looking around.
"Did they ever come home?" Tin-Tin asked as she gazed around languidly at the poolside.
"No, I think they're still on that rescue." Alan replied as he felt it safe to stretch. His leg felt awake this time and he was thankful for that. "Otherwise I think we might have felt the Earth shake from Thunderbird One reentering her home."
"True. So then who covered us last night?" Tin-Tin asked as she looked at the blanket that had been draped over Alan and Tin-Tin the night previous.
A cough from the doorway made both teens look up to see Brains, holding a mug of coffee in hand as he leaned casually against the door frame.
"Did you…?" Alan started to ask until he was silenced by a hand from Brains.
"You s-should uh probably w-want to uh thank Fermat. He t-thought it was uh a little cold last n-night and didn't wish to see you two g-g-catch cold." Brains said before taking a sip from his coffee.
"Where is everybody?" Alan asked as he took notice of the perpetual silence which he found unnerving.
"Still on t-the uh rescue. Looks l-like a uh doozy. Oil rig f-fire off the c-coast of uh Texas." Brains replied. "Y-Your uh father left a uh c-chore list for you to complete before h-he gets back A-Alan."
Alan sighed. Was it his fault that Gordon somehow managed to catch a rat and hide it in his dresser? So what if he threatened to kill Gordon? The red head deserved it; instead Alan was the one to get grounded. Okay, sure maybe he shouldn't have screamed like a little girl at two in the morning when the rat catapulted itself out of his dresser at him, but what else was he supposed to do when he got a face full of fur and mouth full of gross scaly rat's tail?
"I'll help you with the chores Alan. Then maybe your dad will lift the sentence." Tin-Tin said quietly. She knew Brains wouldn't rat her out if he had heard her, because honestly he and Fermat both felt Alan shouldn't have been grounded for being frightened by a rat leaping out of his dresser. But neither the scientist nor the scientist's son was going to question Jeff's parenting, so they kept quiet.
"Thanks Tin." Alan whispered back to Tin-Tin before standing slowly. Once he was stood up, Alan helped Tin-Tin up. The both of them entered the kitchen, snagging a bagel and cream cheese each before grabbing the chore list left on the counter for Alan to complete that afternoon.
Venturing out onto the patio, Alan retrieved the broom from Kyrano's little tool shed and began to sweep the sand, and palm fronds from the deck. Tin-Tin on the other hand grabbed the pool net and began cleaning the bits of plant detritus that had fallen into the pool after the storm they'd had a few nights ago. As the two of them worked their way through the list, they found the item in order of urgency to be placed in a numbered list. Alan and Tin-Tin worked their way through the list until they completed the last item. A quick glance at their watches told them they'd completed the tasks in a timely fashion. A quick stop by the office told Alan and Tin-Tin that due to the need to monitor the oil rig fire, his dad and brothers would be longer than expected.
According to Brains, the family of Thunderbirds was all quite tired and had taken to sleeping in shifts. It was rather unfortunate for Alan though. As far as he knew he wasn't permitted to play video games or watch TV when grounded, he and Gordon had made plans to have a movie marathon.
"So, did dad say what he wanted me to do after completing the list of chores he had laid out for me?" Alan asked as he leaned his hip against the control panel where Brains was sitting, Fermat by his side. He was instructing his son how some of the knobs and buttons worked a little more in depth since Brains had recently updated the motherboard. Some of the new buttons allowed for someone behind the control panel to redirect the Thunderbird crafts if they strayed off course or were in the line of danger.
"He uh just i-instructed me to uh r-remind you to stay o-out of trouble." Brains offered as he smiled at the boy that was pretty much his godson. He'd only just met Jeff in passing when Alan was due to be born, but they hadn't really begun working together until Fermat was due to be born and Alan was two. "I t-talked with uh your f-fa-dad and he agreed t-that maybe he s-should lessen your uh sentence."
"What made him change his mind?" Alan asked.
"S-Scott reminded y-your father that s-screaming in fright w-when a mouse leaps from a place you w-weren't expecting is o-only natural." Brains smiled wryly at that sentence. It was no secret that Scott was terrified of mice and any other rodent like creatures. If a mouse ran by him, Scott was up on top of the furniture until either it was killed or caught and even then if he so much as saw a shadow move, he'd flinch or cringe. Sometimes, things that happen to you when you're a little kid on the playground has the potential to scar you and that scar still can linger into adulthood.
"Scott rules." Alan replied with a sigh.
"He does, so what do you want to do now?" Tin-Tin asked as she took Alan's hand.
"Hmm, what do you want to do?" Alan asked as Tin-Tin dragged him from the office.
"I've got something in mind." Tin-Tin replied with a voice dripping with sugar.
AN: So here is another installment of The Miserable. I'll admit, having a bunch of homework piled on and clinicals hanging over my head have kept me too tired from writing. I did change the rating to this story from K+ to M just because I felt like having Alan and Tin-Tin take a step further in their relationship in the next two chapters or so. While I didn't describe anything, because honestly I suck at writing anything over PG or 13 +, I just don't know where to start when it comes to writing something more risque. So I'll allude to it but nothing anything further than vague descriptions for those that aren't interested in smut. I do not write smut well so don't ask me to be more descriptive, it's more awkward than is within my comfort zone. However, I will just say, one of the later chapters is less Alan and Tin-Tin than it is Alan and Jeff having a more intense discussion about Alan and Tin-Tin. Consider this a warning for later chapters.
~Angel~