#thank god i'm in a relatively safe space as a student

[selene-tempest]

Our Brains.

Brains is fun to hug, he really is. It makes me laugh every single time you do it. It's like he just never expects spontaneous affection from anyone.

He was in for a rude awakening with me. I hug everyone and everything for absolutely no reason what so ever. OK, maybe I do have reasons sometimes, like if they look particularly cute or they are having a bad day, but there's just something about Brains that makes me want to squish the every loving crap out of him.

I remember the first time I met everyone. I first saw Gordon, even if it was upside down. He was there with this big grin on his face and I said to myself "He's gonna be trouble." but the good kind, you know? He might have been an absolute nightmare as a rescuer but later that night he keep my attention as I went through the second scariest moment when I faced the needle of doom.

And then up lumbered Virgil, giving me this smile that said "Hi, don't worry, I'm here, you can trust me." and gods did I trust him. I'd trust him with anything, my keys, my car, my tools, my bank account, anything, just not to get me out of that tree. A witch has to have some self preservation you know. Virgil gives the best hugs, I know everyone says that but it's true, he's got these strong arms that feel like a bubble around you and you know nothing will touch you in them. He glared at the doctor waving the syringe around and warned him not to hurt me, then buried my head in his chest until it was all over. Honestly I don't remember much of it. I might have lost some air supply smothered against those pectorals of his, but what a way to go, eh?

But much as I liked them, they weren't who I truly needed that night. No, I wanted that silver tongued god I'd been talking to in outer space and no one else would do. Its pretty obvious that the first time I met John was life changing.

Then Scott ambled up, flashed me those dimples in a grin that clearly said "I got this shit" and I wasn't sure if my dignity would ever be intact again with him around. He's got that vibe, that vibe that says he'll get you home safe but you'd probably shit your pants at how fast he does it. High octane is our Scott.

Then Alan, oh that baby, I just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket, snuggle him to death and feed him cupcakes.

But Brains, I had literally no idea what to make of him. He was friendly in an over enthusiastic, babbling at me in Sciencees until my head spun kind of way. But so sweet with it.

Brains has this moment about him, when he's not sure of himself. It's not that he doubts his brain power, not at all, but it's like he doubts himself. He reminds me so much of John in that way.

I walked in to find him sat on the couch, looking confused, squinting at his readouts and his face was just a picture of misery. I know nothing about anything of value, but I know when a hug is needed.

I scared the crap out of him. I didn't think, I just leant over the couch, wrapped my arms around him and gave him a squishy witchy hug (patent pending).

He jumped like he'd been shot and went bright red, getting all flustered and stammery. Then he backed off and ran out of the room like his butt was on fire.

I was so worried that I'd offended him or upset him in some way. So I tracked down the love of my life. It went like this:

"John, I broke your scientist, sorry about that."

"You did what?" Confusion, thy name is John Tracy.

"I broke him."

"And how, pray tell, did you manage that?"

"I hugged him."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh! What do I do? How do I fix him? Is this permanent? He ran away so fast I think I saw smoke."

"That's just Brains." That was the wisdom he gave me.

"I'm gonna need more than that, babe."

And that's when I heard the story.

Brains was orphaned at the age of eleven when a hurricane struck his family home. He had no family that could be traced and after floating in the system for a year his incredible brain power made him known to a Cambridge professor who adopted him.

But although he had a relatively happy childhood after that, where his need to acquire knowledge and to indulge in experimentation and inventing was indulged, he lacked the familiaral affection he'd gotten from his parents. His adoptive father cared for him, but more like a teacher would a favourite student than a father.

He'd met Jeff while he was studying, on the fast track to greatness but his abilities were far outstripping the offers he was getting due to his age. To put it simply, no one dared take a chance on a youngster like him. No one but Jeff.

John told me that Brains had gotten better with them all, he now understood their teasing and no longer took it personally, although he still over analysed or took it literally from time to time.

Brains hardly ever reaches out for affection, he's too analytical for that. He only ever does when he's so excited he forgets to think.

John got in the crossfire of that once and froze, two semi-antisocial hermits who didn't know what had just happened. But it was Brains, someone he was comfortable with, so John had just gone with it, patted him on the shoulder and let him know that there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

And now I'm here, poor Brains. He doesn't know what's hit him. He gets hugged when he least expects it all the time. I call it emersion therapy, the boys call it the Selene effect.

He's gotten used to it. He's gotten used to me. He no longer runs. He doesn't stammer. He doesn't panic. He stiffens, then relaxes and occasionally, very rarely, as beautiful as the sun coming up after a long, dark winters night, he'll hug me back.

I love those moments, those times when he's so excited that he'll grab you and hug you without thinking. That's the real Brains, that's the sweetheart that I adore.

That's the one that everyone should know about. The one that makes bad jokes and shouts out his little random ideas without any context, the one that asked me to make a scarf for MAX because his circuitry was feeling delicate that week.

That's our Brains.

That's the one I wish more people saw.

For @drileyf, thanks for the picture submissions.

#Brains #hiram k hackenbacker #selene tempest #thunderbirds fandom #thunderbirds 2015 #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction