I wrote this when I should have been studying because oh my god Virgil totally looks like that big bulky guy who's really very calm and adorable. Read and review please!

I might continue this? Idk.

Scott Tracy walks through the living room, still breathing hard from his morning run. The bottle of water is chilled in his hand and his t shirt and hair cling uncomfortably to his skin with sweat. The sun hasn't even risen properly, giving everything that soft, sleepy feel. He's planning on getting in a nice shower before he gets breakfast and goes down to help Brains when he notices the television playing some animated movie and a tuft of hair visible over the back of the couch.

Shaking his head at weird younger brothers, namely Virgil in this case, because Scott can recognize his brothers by every weird way possible. He walks over to turn off the tv to turn it off and leave his brother to his sleep, because its at least six hours before he's due to emerge, when he properly looks at Virgil and stops dead in his tracks.

Virgil Tracy, powerhouse of the Tracy Family, is curled up into the arm of the couch and tucked into a blanket. Like a child.

Scott coos before he can stop himself and has to slap a hand over his mouth, hoping no one heard his fearless field commander self sound so sappy. Virgil sleeps on, head resting against the armrest, legs pulled up and blanket to his nose. All Scott can really see is messy hair and peacefully closed eyes, plus the rise and fall of his brothers chest. It's so admittedly cute that Scott has to physically keep his hand over his mouth to keep from cooing again, before he takes his phone out of his pocket and snaps a picture.

It's for blackmail purposes, of course. Its not at all because Virgil is bigger than all the Tracy men but looks unbelievably small cuddled into a blanket.

The fond smile creeping back onto his face, Scott leaves his brother to it.

He forgets about it at breakfast until Gordon swipes his phone and Virgil looks like his usual half-dead-before-noon self. His redhead terror is laughing hysterically the next second, almost falling off his chair in his haste to show Alan, seated two seats to his left. Scott doesn't snatch it back fast enough, and Alan's laughter spurs Gordon on even more, and the two fall over themselves in hysterics.

Scott growls at Gordon to leave his stuff alone, feeling oddly possessive of his picture. Gordon doesn't even seem to be listening, and Virgil takes advantage of Scott's distraction and plucks the phone from his hand. The anticipatory grin falls from his face, and the look of pure betrayal that he sends him has Scott joining in with Alan and Gordon's laughter, even as he grabs his phone back so Virgil can't delete it.

Soon, everybody has seen the picture. Grandma Tracy's pinching a grumbling Virgil's cheek, who true to his easy going self, rolls his eyes at everybody's laughter and mostly mock cooing. John calls to check in, and his dad shows him the picture as well, making Virgil flush even redder. John lets out a high "aww!" before he can help himself, then somehow flushes even redder than Virgil and disconnects as fast as he can as the family bursts into renewed hysterics. Virgil face palms, although everyone can see the grin playing on his face, before shooting a very pointed look at Scott to let him know he is not one bit fooled by his older brothers laughter.

The klaxon sounds the next second, and the whole thing is forgotten amidst rushed bites and thundering feet.

Jeff feels the need to check in on all his boys tonight. He can't remember the last rescue that was as bad as this one had been. Twenty children dead, buried in an avalanche, and the personal attachment has Jeff sure he's going to be having nightmares as soon as he closes his eyes. His boys had seen the destruction first hand, and even though they're all adults, the father in him won't rest until he checks on them.

He heads over to Virgil's room, having checked on the rest and having untangled Gordon from his blankets. Walking in, he has to stop himself from grinning like a fool, the month old memory making its way into his heavy thoughts.

Just like in that picture that Virgil had never found and Scott had never let anyone else find for their insidious purposes, his middle child is curled into a small ball. It's such a ridiculous sight to see, Virgil taking up around one fourth of his giant bed, tucked into a corner and snoring softly. Quietly rounding the bed brings the bandaged cut on his cheek and the slight frown on his forehead into view, and its enough to wipe the grin off his face.

He's suddenly hit with the realization that it's been a while since he checked on his older boys at night, because he can't remember Virgil every sleeping like this. He wonders when it started, because the rest of them sleep like they have for years. Scott still sleeps on his back, never completely relaxed, four younger brothers and the Air Force keeping that habit. John, Jeff is sure, still sleeps contentedly on his side. Alan always sleeps on his back, but is always tossing and turning and falling off of his bed. Gordon is the same, although he doesn't fall off, he somehow always gets tangled in his blankets. Jeff has spent too many nights untangling a redhead of various heights from his bed sheets. Virgil, he is sure, would always sleep on his stomach, dead to the world. Maybe its only when he's very tired, he muses.

Sighing, Jeff picks up the discarded blanket off the floor and spreads it over his son, wondering why he's not cold in the ridiculous Star Trek t shirt he's always wearing and his sweats. Instantly, Virgil cuddles into the blanket. Jeff can't resist running his fingers through the shower damp hair, even as he reminds himself that his son is 25 years old and doesn't need constant coddling. The little sigh Virgil lets out, along with the frown relaxing from his face, has Jeff smiling once again.

He spends a few more seconds smoothing back the soft hair, as much for his own sake as Virgil's, and when he's sure his son is properly relaxed, he sneaks in his own picture and leaves, content that his boys are alright.

When John is back on Earth for a break from his rotation, he's still getting used to having gravity under his feet. He'd tripped while trying to run down the stairs and fallen, breaking his wrist and giving himself a minor concussion. Virgil had been the only one home, and had reamed him out for being so careless before more or less carrying him to the infirmary. John had then been subjected to some very irritated fixing up, then given some strong painkillers, right before his head had stopped spinning enough for him to realize that hey he's the older brother in this situation.

Waking up, and fighting that weird post-drugs wooziness, John sees Scott across the room, engrossed in his medical chart, and he just knows he's going to catch hell for his carelessness. Glancing around, he sees his previously irate younger brother asleep on the chair next to him. He feels a pang of guilt, because he knows Virgil hates when they get hurt, more-so because he has to fix them up and see them in pain. Now, he has an expertly done cast on his arm and he's still grumbling about it before he realizes Virgil looks really, really adorable.

He bites his lip to keep from laughing/squealing at his burly brother curled up like a cat. He's not even sure how Virgil managed to bring his legs up onto the small chair and keep them there, although he can't help but notice how stressed he looks. He's hit with another pang of guilt when he realizes Virgil is there to monitor his concussion before a very pointed throat clearing makes him jump.

He blushes slightly when he realizes Scott's probably seen him staring. John'd forgotten he was there. He's subjected to his older brothers very pointed, very raised eyebrow which promises hell once he's feeling a bit better, and John bites down another urge to laugh. Scott's eyes flicker over to Virgil and his face softens, and they both share a fond look. The moment passes when Scott squishes his cheeks between his hands and silently mimes Johns "aww!" the last time he'd seen Virgil like this, and John flips him off with his good hand while trying to smother his laughter. Concussions always give him a weird sense of humor.

Virgil snuffles in his sleep before he settles back down again, and his older brothers share a reluctant but knowing look, because they can hear Alan and Gordon approaching. A quick game of rock paper scissors has Scott grumbling as he moves to wake his middle brother to spare him some teasing.

The youngest two eventually figure out that cat-Virgil is not a one time thing, and Virgil doesn't escape the merciless teasing. Everybody else's teasing is mostly token, because individually they're all afraid that Virgil will somehow stop doing it. Virgil rolls with the barbs and lets his younger brothers have their fun, although he does try to keep his sleeping confined to his room. As deep as he sleeps, he knows he doesn't really have a shot at stopping. Most times, though, he's so tired he falls asleep somewhere else, and has to deal with his younger idiot brothers teasing with some admittedly clever jokes.

Gordon walks slowly into Thunderbird Two, having been given the task of retrieving Virgil. The middle Tracy still had not emerged for debriefing, and everyone assumed he was trying to wipe out every single speck of mud left by the rescued victims in his beloved machine. Leaving his exhausted brothers to go shower, Gordon had hastily agreed, fully intending to apologize to Virgil as soon as he saw him.

He'd been forbidden from going on the rescue by the medic, saying Gordon's back still wasn't at a hundred percent after he'd overdone it on their last rescue. Gordon had lost his temper, and yelled some nasty things at Virgil. Things Gordon is ashamed to say he doesn't even remember most of. By the furious look underlined with hurt on Virgil's face before he'd stormed off without a word, along with the fierce glare Scott had given him before he'd echoed Virgil's order, he'd said some pretty horrid stuff.

He's still drowning in shame, just like he has been since his back seized up again fifteen minutes after they'd left. It was an admitted sore spot for him, recognizing that his back still wasn't at a hundred percent after his accident, but Virgil had been right. It probably would have seized up on the rescue, and all Gordon had done was yell at Virgil for something that wasn't his fault.

The mud from the rescue is still all over the floor, and Gordon frowns as he walks into the cockpit. Then bites his lip to keep from laughing.

His brother is fast asleep in his seat, head leaned back against the board, somehow fitting all of himself onto the chair. The desire to laugh vanishes the next second, as he notices Virgil's hair and uniform is caked with mud and he has dark bags under his eyes. It'd been a busy week for International Rescue. The guilt returns full force as he realizes that Virgil probably had to pick up the slack since Gordon hadn't been there to help him.

Sighing, he quickly checks that the post-flight checks are complete before he reaches out to gently shake Virgil's shoulder. His older brother jerks awake, looking around before he sees Gordon. He sighs and digs his palms into his eyes the next second as he uncurls himself, and Gordon vaguely feels sad about that because his brother had looked kinda peaceful before wary, bloodshot eyes meet his.

"I really don't want to fight, Gordy", is all he says, and Gordon has to gulp down the emotion before he just shakes his head and offers Virgil a hand up. His brothers face relaxes minutely as he reads the sincere apology in on Gordon's face before he takes the offered hand. They both make their way out of the thunderbird, accompanied only by Gordon's Chewbacca impersonation and Virgil's exaggerated groans.

Alan's head aches something awful as he wakes up and so does his ankle, although he can still feel the weird numbness thats accompanied by painkillers. He knows where he is before he opens his eyes and yup he's in the infirmary.

He blinks against the semi darkness and the fuzziness as he tries to move, and the stab of pain has him aborting that mission almost as soon as he's started. He registers his father sleeping on the chair next to him, still fully dressed, legs stretched out in front of him and he'd lolling forward. Besides him, propped against the chair, is Virgil.

Alan has a flash of Virgil's panicked face as he'd tried to catch his youngest brother as the floor of the burning building had crumbled under him, and missed. He was very lucky in retrospect, but Virgil had been thoroughly shaken up. He'd looked more panicked than Alan has seen him in a while, eyes full of tears behind his visor, when he'd dug him out of all the rubble.

Right now, still covered head to toe in soot, he's fast asleep and curled up in that ridiculous way Alan always makes fun of him for. His arm is wrapped around his knees, which in turn pillows his head. The next second Alan notices a hand loosely holding his own and he jerks a little in surprise because wow concussions make him slow. It's Virgil's, still covered in the minor burns he'd promised their father he was off to go clean.

But his brother is still here, keeping watch over him, and Alan feels a rush of gratitude at being lucky enough to have a family who cares so much. Family that sleeps on uncomfortable chairs or curled up against said uncomfortable chairs with sooty hair in their eyes and burnt hands just to make sure he was okay.

When Alan swallows and looks away, contemplating waking up his older brother, his father is awake and watching him, his face fond but concerned. He looks down at Virgil and his and Alan's hands and sighs, although his look stays fond.

"He's so dumb", Alan croaks out, voice still rough from all the smoke he's inhaled, not able to keep the emotion out of his voice. His father just chuckles as the little alarm clock on the bedside table set for his concussion checks goes off and his sooty older brother jerks awake.

When Virgil is evacuating a building half demolished by an earthquake, an aftershock hits that has him falling through the floor. He's not as lucky as Alan had been, falling two stories down. It'd taken Scott, Alan and Gordon close to an hour to dig him out of the rubble, unconscious and bleeding. He comes out of it with a badly broken leg, broken ribs and a severe concussion.

He's ordered off duty for two months at least, and the Tracy family watches their once calm powerhouse turn completely irritable after he's discharged. He snaps at everybody when they try to take care of him, and is furious at the fact that he cant even keep himself busy. He can't play his piano with his cast in the way, and he can't use his arms long enough to draw or paint before his abused chest starts screaming in agony. The concussion leads to horrid headaches that leave him hiding in his dark room, trying to ride them out. The only time anyone can check on him without having to sneak around in case they get their head bitten off is when he's sleeping, and it only makes everything worse.

Virgil doesn't curl up in his sleep anymore.

Everybody knows that he physically can't at the moment, but to see their once adorable sleeper holding himself rigid even in his sleep weighs on all of them. Even Alan and Gordon seem openly concerned. Virgil has never gotten hurt this badly before; he's usually the one fixing them up and bugging them to take care of themselves. To see him in the pain he's in is a new, very unwelcome experience.

About three weeks in, he develops a cold, and the constant sneezing has him in agony. He firmly refuses additional painkillers, already sick of the dependency and trying to wean himself off. The family takes charge when Scott finds him throwing up in his bathroom, more or less sobbing from the pain. Brains gives him some stronger painkillers for the next few days, and he spends most of it in a drugged sleep, rigid as a board the whole time.

Gradually, he gets better. The cast on his leg comes off, although his ribs still bother him. His mood slowly improves, particularly now that he can focus on his music and art. He's still grounded, however, and still occasionally snaps, but mostly grumbles good-naturedly about someone getting to drive his precious 'Bird.

When the brothers walk in from a rescue late one night, intending to shower before their debriefing, they find Virgil asleep on the couch. He's wearing the ridiculous squid pajamas Gordon had given him, but what has everyone stopping is how he's curled up at the edge. One hand is curled around his still sore ribs and the other pillows his head, but he's snoring softly and looks more peaceful than anyone has seen him look in a very long time.

They're all smiling fondly at him, an invisible weight off their shoulders, even Alan and Gordon not trying to hide it. They both head off to their respective rooms and Scott gives into the urge and goes to tuck Virgil into the blanket thrown over the couch. Scott knows he's still smiling stupidly, and he completely ignores the clucking noises Alan and Gordon make, especially as Virgil snuffles softly and burrows into the fluffy blanket

It feels way too good to have his brother back.