Work Text:
“You should get to bed too you know Scott. If Grandma see’s you still awake and wandering around, she’ll send you to bed herself and lock the door on you.”
“She’ll come up there and get you one of these days too you know.”
“I’d like to see her get past EOS.”
“For what it’s worth I would let your Grandma in if it meant you would go to sleep.”
Scott laughs as John glares off to the side, just out of view, at where EOS’s monitor was probably positioned. “Looks like you have a traitor in your midst John.”
“My statement stands; you should get to bed.”
“And I will. Once I’ve made sure that everyone else has too. Including you.”
They do this every night. Scott wanders around the inhabited parts of Tracy Island, from up in the round house to down to the beach, sending errant younger siblings (regardless of their blood relation status) to bed while John keeps him company. Despite John still being his younger brother, he’s not up for a late-night trip into space to make sure this one gets to bed, so he lets it slide. And EOS definitely wouldn’t let him in if John told her not to.
They find an errant Kayo down in the gym and send her to bed. That one takes prompting from John, because Kayo starts to argue until he reminds her, she’s been awake for over twenty-four straight hours. Scott didn’t know that, and he tells her that if she doesn’t go willingly, he’ll bodily carry her to bed. She grumbles but goes.
The next they find is Gordon, in the pool, of course. He gives them a ‘Shit I’m caught’ grin before Scott throws a towel at him and sends him scurrying off to bed.
Brains’s lab is the next place Scott expects to find somebody, but for once all the lights are off and MAX is snoozing in the corner, Brains nowhere to be seen and they don’t find Virgil anywhere either.
“At least someone is listening to me.”
Scott hasn’t seen Bonnie or Alan for a few hours now so when he doesn’t find them either he heads to bed himself.
There’s no light under Virgil’s door but he can hear two sets of soft snores so that answers part of his questions. Bonnie’s room is also dark, but silent. He can hear Gordon’s shower going and the muffled tones of some off-key singing.
Kayo passes them, still in her gym gear, but before Scott can squawk in protest, she holds up an apple and a bottle of water and he lets it slide.
Scott walks them past Alan’s room last and there’s a flickering light under the door. Scott knocks once, no answer, twice, no answer again. After the third no answer Scott assumes his youngest brother has a headset or his headphones on while he plays video-games, and lets himself in.
And stops short, just inside the door.
“Hey, remember the other day when you told me you were missing a few of your old t-shirts and you were pretty pissed about it because they were comfortable?”
“Yeah? Why?”
“I’ve found your clothing thieves.”
Scott turns the view of his communicator around so that John can see what he sees. There’s a moment of silence from his immediately youngest brother before he speaks again, and when he does the volume of his voice drops to a much softer level.
“And I can’t even get mad about it because that’s adorable. For fucks sake.”
“Hey, watch your language.” Scott laughs.
The sight that had greeted Scott when he opened the door was not his baby brother awake playing video games as he had expected, instead his two youngest siblings are huddled together at the foot of Alan's bed, blonde heads resting together. Alan’s arms are wrapped securely around Bonnie’s middle as he leans into her, head against her chest, sleeping the heaviest Scott had probably seen him sleep in weeks since the last fire rescue they all did didn’t go so well. For her part Bonnie is also sleeping soundly, leaning back against the footboard of the bed, legs stretched out in front of her, her good arm around Alan’s shoulders with her hand resting on his head as though she’s been stroking his hair. Her other arm is across her middle over the top of Alan’s left. They are each wearing one of John’s missing t-shirts, Bonnie in a faded lilac one that is patterned with constellations and Alan in one that was galaxy dyed with the NASA logo printed on the back. As much as he would never admit it the whole scene made his heart feel like it was going to burst.
“Take a picture.”
“You read my mind.”