InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Blaze this!"

As usual, Angus and Lennox had diametrically opposed party attitudes: Angus was loudly and prominently in the thick of things, being swarmed by siblings and in-laws, cousins of many varieties, niblings, aunts and uncles, and reveling in the chaos of a big Campbell Christmas, while Lennox was hardly to be found in the middle of the action. Christmas dinner was nearly over before Angus found a chance to sit down next to his twin and grin over at him, squeezing his shoulder companionably.

"Still with us, Len?" he asked quietly. "How are you doing?"

“If it was the fashion to do Christmas in lots of small doses, it'd be a lot easier,” Lennox murmured, his shoulders raised and stiffened, eyes darting around the room to check in on the status of people’s meals. As was his wont, he himself hadn't eaten much. Fortunately, it was quieter down at this end of the table, but it still took concentration to be heard by Angus but not the rest of the family.

What also took a concerted effort was making conversation with most people, though thankfully not his twin. Angus was able to get information out of him without words.

Angus patted his arm in consolation. "Aye, but with a family the size of this one, it'd take months to do it that way. It'll be all over soon. Once auld Aunt Agnes finds the bottom of her brandy, they'll all pack out." He gave an angelic smile to the old lady in question at the other side of the great table, who was drinking with slow, grave concentration. "You know, with your wee pup, you've a built-in excuse to leave the party. I'll give 'em all your love and holiday wishes if you dinna want to stay."

Lennox made a small scoffing noise as Angus first commented, wryly glancing down at some of their younger nephews, currently (and loudly) destroying the remnants of Christmas Crackers on the table. “Remind me never to have that many, lest I end up with those two by accident,” he replied, wondering where in the house that Toby even was now.

“Ach, you know what some of these would say if I didn't come back,” he muttered, eyes on Aunt Agnes at the other end of the table.

Angus tilted his head in acknowledgement of that point, because theirs was a gossipy family and if Lennox disappeared early it would be the talk of the island through Hogmanay. It was the comment about having kids that had him more interested; he arched his eyebrows in exaggerated surprise, grinning at his brother. "And just what has the production of bairns on your mind, my lad? Couldna have anything to do with the reason you were busy last night, could it?"

Lennox, being one of the few in the family who WASN'T gossipy, didn't give up so easily. “Yes,” he began, slowly dragging out each syllable. “One evening not spent in the home and that naturally means I'm starting a family. That's not going from zero to a hundred miles an hour at all ..."

Angus laughed and draped an arm around his twin's shoulders, leaning in. "I always reckoned you for the long engagement type when that day comes, anyway. Come on, now, you can tell old Angie. Was she pretty?" He was teasing, as usual; he only suspected Lennox of having a date, which happened so rarely it was noteworthy every time, but he could easily believe he'd been out on his own. "You tell me all about it, and I'll tell you my big plans for New Year's."

“No, she resembled a small troll with a severe case of Dragon pox,” Lennox shot back, as heavy in sarcasm as ever. He did, momentarily, consider saying he'd been at Jason’s for that fly they'd talked about having. He knew Jason would forgive him. Instead, he chose the safer fib.

“I've been feeling like shite lately, so I took Toby out for the evening. We were up in the hills above Tobermory for a good couple of hours,” he lied smoothly, with barely a flutter of his eyelids.

Angus flicked a bit of walnut shell of the table at his chest. "Boo, Len, I had such high hopes you were off doing something exciting for a change." He shook his head sadly. "Weel, one of these days I'll be right, mark my words. You know, lasses love puppies. Walk down the high street with Toby one day and you'll be fighting 'em off."

“This is me we’re talking about, mm? I've never been one for raucous behaviour or big nights, you know that,” he replied, crossing his legs and looking down the table. He was never going to tell the full story with so many Campbells around…

He snorted at Angus’ last remark, looking around again for his dog. “I don't WANT to be fighting them off, remember?”

"You say that now," Angus told him, and tapped the side of his nose conspiratorially. "May change in the future, eh? Anyway, Len, speakin' of romance… I told you I had a date with Jupiter Macmillan, yeah? It was a nice time, I'd like to have another." He looked down at the table, folding a crumpled bit of serviette neatly to keep from fidgeting. "But I've been thinkin' about Elsa lately, too, and… weel, I wanted to let you know I'm heading out to Canada for a wee visit. On New Year's Day. Reckon it's time to put that to rest, one way or the other."

“When have I EVER wanted to be chased after?” Lennox sighed in exasperation, ignoring the curious look from a tipsy Aunt Agnes. What he couldn’t help was the slight raise of his eyebrow as Angus mentioned Jupiter. The woman had flirted incessantly with him, to the point where Lex had to get involved. She’d wanted to try setting them up, at first, but he’d declined. Filing that information in his head - he certainly didn’t like it - he focused instead on Angus’ trip.

“Canada? How long have you been planning that, then?” he asked, a note of scepticism in his voice. He’d never thought much of Elsa leaving after the war, and he was certainly unimpressed at the thought of her creeping her way back into his brother’s life.

"Few weeks," Angus answered. "I had a talk with Gregor when I was letting out my wee house to him, and he got me thinking about things unfinished." He patted Lennox's shoulder. "I'm not about to uproot and move out there or anything. And I don't reckon, after all this time, she'll come back with me. But I never really had the chance to talk to her since…" He tilted his head, not wanting to say the word 'Azkaban' or 'war'. Not on Christmas, not with so many relations around, however well-meaning, whose ears would perk up at the sound of those intriguing words. "Well, anyway, I reckon we've got some things to say to each other. That's all."

Lennox chewed his lip and looked at his beer bottle, finding it worryingly low for the purposes of a conversation about women. He nodded in the direction of the kitchen, waggling the bottle between his fingers. It would be a good excuse to get out of the room for a bit, anyway. He rose, apologising to the family members closest to him, and made his way out of the room.

Finding himself alone in the kitchen, he pulled another bottle out of the fridge and cracked off the lid, waiting for Angus to join him. “Look,” he warned, “I wasn’t alone yesterday. Didn’t want to say anything in front of those harpies because they’d make more of it than what it is.”

Angus followed him, stopping along the way to extricate Toby from a gaggle of too-small-for-Hogwarts niblings where they were all rolling around in discarded paper and ribbons and bows, over-excited and at risk of squishing the dog. Toby squirmed in his arms and licked his face, and Angus scratched the pup's ear fondly and deposited him on the kitchen floor.

He nudged the door halfway closed with his foot and leaned back against the kitchen counter, covered as it was in empty serving bowls and platters, and laughed at Lennox, raising his eyebrows expectantly. "Ye great shameless liar," he told his brother. "Come on then, who were you out with?"

“This was precisely why I didn’t tell ye, ye great lump,” Lennox retorted, taking a sip of his beer, and kneeling to scratch an inquisitive Toby behind the ears. “It’s nothing to interrogate over, just a chat, and you’re there acting like Auntie Agnes will be in about twenty minutes.”

Angus pulled out a beer for himself while Lennox was occupied with the dog. "If you didna want me to ask, you wouldna hae brought it up," he pointed out. "And if it was really 'just a chat', then there's no harm in telling me who, eh? Are you wanting me to guess, Len? Twenty questions?" He grinned. "At least give me a hint. Is it someone I know?"

“Wrong,” Lennox replied, a little crossly. “I brought it up in HERE because bringing it up in THERE would have caused absolute chaos. As you well know,” he mused, taking another sip of his drink and sitting down at the kitchen table. “Besides, if ye find out anywhere else, they’re likely to be full of shite and make it bigger than it is. Again, like I already said.”

He set his bottle down on the table and looked right at Angus, looking unamused. “I’m not playing games, Angus. You’d only use it as another excuse to insult me.”

"Me, insult my own dear brother, with whom I shared a womb?" Angus tipped his beer at him in a solemn salute. "I never would. Scout's honour." He'd never been a scout of any kind, which probably lessened the solemnity of that vow, but he meant it all the same. "Listen, you can tell me what you want, or not tell, and I'll never laugh at you. I'm happy if you have someone you can talk to, a chuilein. Whether that involves snogging or no."

“Someone I can talk to? Bloody hell, Angus, this was what I meant about it not being a big deal! All we did was go on a walk… didn’t we, Toby, hmm?” he finished, deflecting attention (hopefully) from the warmth he could feel around his neck. He definitely wasn’t going to say anything about how the not-date ended. Nope.

Fortunately, the arrival of several family members following the break-up off dinner saved him from a little more of his twin’s interrogation.

Angus was about to answer back when they were interrupted by the arrival of one sister-in-law, two cousins, and three aunts, all chattering at top volume as they bustled in with more dishes to add to the growing pile in the sink. He caught Lennox's eye and tilted his head toward the garden door. "Hullo, Auntie Flora," he greeted one petite aunt with a one-armed hug. "Claire, Auntie Bess, Auntie Bea, Sarah… Budge up there and we'll get out of your hair, ladies. We were just about to take yon wee hound out for a bit. Weren't we, Lennox?"

He edged around the bustling group of women and held the door open for Toby to bound out joyfully into the snow. Angus grinned, watching his tail wag. "I should get a dog," he commented out of the blue. "Reckon Toby'd like a cousin?"

Lennox snorted slightly at the blatant fibbing his brother was doing, though he waited until they were outside and Toby was flicking the powdery snow into the air with his tail before calling him out on it. “And you say I’m telling fibs, hmm?” he started, watching Toby leap around ecstatically.

“The question is whether Andy would like a sibling,” he quipped, wondering if the lazy feline could cope with an energetic pup around the place.

"Weel, we've taken the pup out just like I said, haven't we? So where's the lie?" Angus grinned and slung an arm around Lennox's shoulders, giving him a squeeze. "I reckon Andy Campbell would never speak to me again if I brought home a dog. At least a pup like yours." He, too, watched Toby play, taking joy in the sight. "Maybe an old hound who willna try to play with her. Any road, it's a good thing I've got visitation rights with Toby and Mandela."

He gave Lennox a pat on the back before releasing him, turning to brush the snow off the garden bench and cast a quick warming and cushioning charm on the seat before he sat, stretching his long legs in front of him. "It's just you and me, no nosy relations in earshot. You going to tell me who you were out walkin' with before curiosity kills me?"

Lennox joined his brother on the bench, restraining himself from letting out a sigh of resigned defeat. “Charlotte,” he replied simply, not using her common nickname on purpose.

Fortunately for his own distraction, Toby reappeared at that point, jumping onto the bench between them. Lennox began to make a fuss of the pup, hoping Angus wouldn’t be too ridiculous in reply.

"Charlotte?" Angus answered, his brow wrinkling for just a second before his expression cleared in realisation. "Oh -- Chuck? Lennox, that's brilliant! Chuck's great, honestly. Didna reckon the two of you would have that much in common, but I'm glad to know you're getting on, mate."

He was doing exactly what Lennox had predicted he'd do, make a big deal of it, but Angus's train of thought couldn't be stopped. He managed to keep himself from asking any more questions, but he couldn't keep himself from grinning over at his brother. "Brilliant," he repeated once more.

Lennox really did sigh this time. “We went for a walk, and that’s it. I don’t know why you’re so pleased,” he shot back, gathering a pleased Toby onto his lap, who had definitely started wagging his tail at the mention of the nice lady who’d been making such a fuss of him. His human, on the other hand, was dwelling on the comment about them not having much in common. Because of course he was.

"A man can't simply be glad his twin is getting out of the house on occasion with a lovely lady?" Angus winked at him. "All right, all right. I'll not say another word about it, I promise. Unless and until there's anything more to talk about."

He scratched Toby behind the ear, looking out at the quiet, snow-filled garden. Much as he enjoyed the chaos inside (almost exactly as much as Lennox disliked it), it was nice to have a bit of a break from relations who were still treating him like he was wounded. "Reckon Aunt Agnes has found the bottom of her glass yet?"

Yes, Lennox thought, he was certain. He definitely wasn’t telling Angus about the mistletoe.

“Even she must be pissed enough for her own liking,” Lennox quipped, standing up from the bench. “Let’s go back, shall we?”