Tis the Season to be Gordon

"GORDON COOPER TRACY!"

The sound of his eldest brother shouting the house down was music to his ears as he made his way outside. Usually the use of all three names was something to be terrified about in the Tracy household. But this time Gordon, who was just about to head into the pool, was instead doubled up with laughter having known the precise reason for Scott's fury. After all, it had been his doing.

There was just five days to go until Christmas. Their home on the South Pacific island was covered in decorations, tinsel, paper chains, multi-coloured festive lights and more than one Christmas tree. Gordon did miss the snow they used to be guaranteed every year back in Kansas; missed the snowball fights and the opportunity to build a snowman (yes, even at twenty years of age!). But the perks of living on a tropical island meant absolutely no crazy weather adaptations, other than the odd freak storm. In Kansas they'd been regularly vulnerable to tornadoes, flash floods, and heavy snow during the winter meaning pranks weren't exactly appreciated under the circumstances.

But here on Tracy Island he had free reign to set up pranks whenever he so pleased, much to the distaste of the rest of the family, other than Alan who was always eager to help.

Gordon's pranks were a fairly common occurrence if he was in the right mood and International Rescue weren't required left, right and centre. He loved his role within IR, don't get him wrong, but rescues over Christmas often put a slight damper on the atmosphere of the island depending on their outcome, hence why Gordon set up his pranks as a bit of festive cheer.

Last Christmas had been rather hectic, even for the aquanaut who's Thunderbird was a mini-sub, as the entire team had nearly always been required due to the sheer scales of the catastrophes. Subsequently, Gordon had been an active member of the team on nearly every rescue, from avalanches (which always did require comic relief afterwards) and a magnitude 8 earthquake to rail disasters and road tunnels collapsing. So far this festive season they'd been called out just twice in the last three and a half weeks. Ever since the events of Spring Break where the world had been without contact with IR for several weeks while Five was brought back online, and had had to learn to cope on their own, they really were only called out to very extreme emergencies that local authorities were absolutely certain they couldn't handle alone.

But back to the present, five days till Christmas meant four days for four particularly extra special pranks (he called it quits on Christmas day) to pull on his beloved brothers. As Scott was the eldest, Gordon only felt it right that he be the first to suffer the prankster's mischievous ways he had planned for the holiday. All of his brothers had been on the continuous receiving end of the aquanaut's jokes and pranks since they could remember, but that didn't ever stop Gordon from thinking up creative new ideas every time.

As the pilot came crashing through onto the patio the prankster merely adopted a look of innocence and smiled as he asked, "What's up, dear brother?" barely holding in his laughter as he took in Scott's appearance.

He'd been down in the silos for most of the morning seeing to a mechanical fault on One and Gordon may or may not have taken advantage of that by hooking up a huge bucket of slime to the ceiling above TB1 silo's tunnel door. Upon opening when Scott chose to re-emerge, the blue slime (coloured the colour of his flight suit and 'Bird) had cascaded over him. So now Scott stood before him grubby and dirt-stricken with remnants of blue slime dripping off every inch of his skin and hair. That, coupled with the look of pure annoyance, made Gordon guffaw.

"Gordon, I think you know what's up," he growled, gesturing to his blue splattered self.

"Sorry, Scotty. First of the big festive week! Better watch ya back from now on, yeah?" he said through his laughter.