rp: Brotherly Love
Who: Oliver and Logan Wood When: Wednesday, December 14, 2008 Where: Angus and Penelope Wood's house; outside Greenock Scotland What: The brothers want to take a nice photo for their mum Warnings: Language
Edwardine had made the observation on her last visit and had a point: the faded photo of the Oliver and Logan had easily reached a decade. The two showed up in other family photos, but not alone.
Oliver and Logan, despite sharing family bond and love for each other struggled to get along. Oliver had always -- whether he meant to or not -- overshadowed Logan who like any respectable Wood had gone into Quidditch. Unlike his big brother, Logan did not have the skills to go pro but rather refocused his talent as a trainer for the Tornadoes' reserve team. Still, he couldn't escape the near constant 'aren't you Oliver's little brother?' when his last name came up in conversation. Even before their adult lives the two could be found quarreling and trying to one-up the other. As children they competed for their father's attention and the best gifts to their mother.
This was how, on a cloudy Wednesday Oliver found himself nervously fiddling with a camera in the sitting room of his parent's house.
"Logan, we're taking the picture! Now!" He adjusted the seam of his best robes before taking a seat in front of the lens.
"What picture?" Logan snapped from the kitchen with annoyance.
"The one for mom!" Oliver replied with exasperation. Wasn't that the whole point of the two being here in the middle of the day? He'd arrived the day before to stay the two weeks leading up to Christmas but already found himself looking for an excuse to return to his own home, especially with Logan staying as well. He wasn't sure why Logan's presence annoyed him so much. Nervously adjusting the empty vase on the top of grandmum's old piano for the second time, he growled. What was taking Logan so long? "Hello?! NOW!"
Logan strode from the kitchen wearing his favorite and very tattered t-shirt and jeans while eating from a carton of ice cream. "Fucksake I'm here; stop your bitching."
Oliver's face fell. "Logan... what are you--?" The younger brother's eyebrows raised and he looked down in mock surprise over his clothes.
"It's called a t-shirt, Ollie."
"Put on a robe." Surely Logan didn't think he'd take a photo in muggle clothes, let alone one nearly a decade old. Logan's eyebrows knitted with annoyance.
"It's fine!"
"Put on a robe!"
"I don't need t-"
"It's for mum!"
"This is fi-!"
"Put on a robe!" Oliver roared, immediately drowned out by Logan's reply of 'fine!' and heavy stomps out of the room. Oliver sat fuming and wondering just why he thought this was a good idea. Perhaps it would be easier for the brothers to part ways and buy an individual gifts. Clearly Logan wasn't going to cooperate with his brother.
Sullenly Logan wandered back into the sitting room wearing robes that he'd clearly plucked from the dirty clothes bin. Oliver stared with a clenched jaw as his brother walked back to the piano bench and stood without word, ready for his photo. Pure frustration washed over Oliver and he landed a hard punch to the middle of Logan's chest, winding and pushing him onto the piano. His protests fell on deaf ears as Oliver gathered Logan by the scruff of his robes and tossed him out of the sitting room with the shouted instructions to put on proper robes else he'll find himself eating said robes. Why did Logan have to be so difficult? This simple task should have been completed and yet there Oliver sat, fuming on the piano bench and staring savagely at the decade old photo of the two brothers elbowing each other out of the way to be in the front of the frame.
Logan returned, looking even more sullen though dressed in better quality robes. He moved to stand behind Oliver, who stood to set the timer on the camera.
"You need to get in the frame."
"You need to get in the frame." Logan replied in a mocking tone.
"No, I'm serious you're halfway out of the pictu-"
"Damnit Oliver!" Logan raged, "Why do you want me near you so bad?"
Oliver stared at his little brother as though he'd grown two heads. "I want you in the picture so mum can see you." He replied as though explaining two plus two equals four. This was met with a hefty eye-roll.
"Oh, yeah, I can just see it: 'Happy Christmas, mum, here's a picture of me teabag on Ollie's shoulder'!" Blood boiled in Oliver's ears and he charged at Logan, much like when they were kids, and the two went down in a flurry of punches only coming to their senses when a potted plant toppled over. Furious and slightly embarrassed, the two broke apart.
Oliver mended the pot with his wand. "Fuckin' hell, let's take the picture. We're too old to act like this." His suggestion was answered with a shrug from the other man. Silently the two moved to the piano bench where Logan moved uncomfortably close against his brother. Oliver steadied himself with several deep breaths before standing up to trigger the camera timer and hurried back to the bench. Finally, the glorious flash of light burst from the camera and this terrible task came to an end. He stood to retrieve the photo and Oliver's heart fell when he saw the awkwardly hovering Logan behind him. They couldn't give this to their mother.
"We're taking it again- try to smile this time." Oliver instructed while winding the camera. Logan paused in the middle of a fruitless battle with his robe clasp and looked up indigently.
"I smiled last time."
"I just- I mean- you look like a ghoul in the photo." Oliver sat back down, trying his best to give a warm smile.
"A ghoul?" Logan laughed mirthlessly. The camera flashed and Oliver retrieved the photo to see the image of his brother with a sagging mouth, limp posture and hands curled in an exaggerated haunting pose. He flung it aside and once more tackled Logan, who was ready and caught the burly Keeper with a well placed punch to the stomach and the two again fell to the floor cursing and punching every inch they could find. The two broke apart when the younger Wood drew out his wand. The scene froze for several seconds before Logan moved behind the piano bench while his brother wordlessly triggered the camera and sat down. Suddenly Oliver looked over his shoulder. "What?" Logan demanded.
"I'm just making sure you're smiling." Oliver explained, looking back to the camera. The camera flashed as did little lights in front of his eyes from a firm smack to the back of his blond head. This was the last straw and Oliver plunged his hand into his robe to draw out his wand and attempted to hex Logan who ran from the sitting room and down the hall. Oliver hurried after him, throwing hex after hex but unable to focus his aim from the fury clouding his brain. Logan reached the cupboard at the end of the hall and climbed inside much like he'd done as a child.
Oliver hammered on the door. "Come out of the cupboard!" He hoped Logan's sealing charm had faded over the years.
"Put down your wand!"
Oliver stated his demand again, gave the door a kick and walked down the hall to the sitting room. "I'm taking the picture myself!" He shouted, looking at the photo on the floor of Logan attempting to smack Oliver who was hiding under the bench. Forget this. Why didn't Edwardine take the photo? She had always been the best at playing peacekeeper between her brothers; why didn't she come here and complete this impossible task? Oliver could barely wind the camera from the anger. Their mum would just have to settle with individual photos and he'd nearly triggered the timer before catching sight of a photo on the wall. A much younger Penelope Wood -- lovely and blond -- wrapped her young sons in a tight hug while the two giggled. The anger in Oliver ebbed away; She deserved a new photo and he could put aside his feelings to complete the task to make her smile. "Please come out of the cupboard." Oliver could have cringed at the note of plea in his voice.
"You're going to hex me." Logan's muffled voice called down the hall. With a sigh, Oliver reassured his brother he could control his temper. They needed to finish this before the headache threatened to take over him completely. After a long silence the door to the cupboard creaked and Logan made his way down the hall. "One smile. One picture. And you don't bug me for the rest of the day."
"No worries there mate I don't want to look at you."
"Good." The clasp of Logan's robe slipped open once more and he grumbled, trying to fix it. Oliver reached over to secure the robe and nodded. "Let's get this over with, then." The two stood at a respectable distance apart, eager for the camera's light to flash. Logan's face split into a grin. "Hey Ollie wait!"
"What?" Oliver looked over his shoulder right as the light flashed. Logan laughed and tore from the room with Oliver on his heels, wand out and throwing hexes. "DON'T GO TO THE CUPBOARD!"
The photo fell to the floor of both Wood sons together, smiling and waving.