WHO: Quinton and Zachary Sloper.
WHAT: Brother stuff.
WHERE: Somewhere in south Argentina, July 1, 1978
RATING: PG!
Zach flopped down on a plot of grass with a huff. Even with a lightening charm, all the equipment was in his backpack was ridiculously heavy. They were only a week into the trip and he wasn’t going to start whining now. At least he wasn’t sick of Quinn. Yet.
“Bugger me if you fuckin’ say a word resembling I told you so, I’ll leave you on an ice floe and take a penguin home to mum. You know she won’t be able to tell the difference.”
Zach grinned cheekily as his brother collapsed down next to him, clutching his stomach. It wasn’t Zach’s fault at all, he wasn’t the one that wanted to ‘experience Argentinean culture’ and eaten some kind of crispy thing that was being passed around on the train. Zach had this rule about food; if he didn’t recognize it, it didn’t go into his mouth, but Quinn had gone and eaten two handfuls.
“I won’t say anything like that, but someone might have told you that eating crispy birdies on a train in podunk, Argentina, was not a smart move and you’re the one who’s working for—mmph,” Zach’s laughing rant was cut off by Quinn’s hand covering his mouth. Zach’s arm was trapped by his backpack strap so he could only kick and flail his way out of it.
“Stupid twat,” Zach said, once his brother had relented. He ruffled his hair and pulled up his hood, glowering at Quinn who was now snickering lightly.
“Aww, come on Zachy, just because you’ll always be the baby doesn’t mean you have to act like one!”
“Shut up Quinn! GOD! Don’t you ever stop talking?” Zach shouted back, his voice going squeaky, sending Quinn into gales of laughter. Before he could finish laughing, someone on the train yelled something out to the crowd of people around the train. Zach and Quinn got to their feet and made their way over to the train to climb aboard.
Literally.
Climbing aboard the train meant actually getting on top of it and Zach had been stunned to find out that people actually rode the trains like that. Because they were so full and definitely not like the Hogwarts Express (which was the only train he’d ever been on), the travelers all sat on the roofs. Zach made his way to the center of the roof, so what, he didn’t want to fall off, and let Quinn take the outside ‘seat’, draping his arm over Zach’s shoulder.
“Ah, guay del Paraguay, eh Zachy? Nesecitas hablar in Español, mi hermanito. Semana próximo, yo no hablo para tí. Nunca mas después viernes. Entiendes?” Zach hated how smart his brother was. Granted, Quinn had known about this trip for months and had been learning Spanish since then and Zach had only been trying for three or four weeks. And there Quinn was just babbling on. Zach pulled out his dictionary out, only to have it pulled away, “Nuh-uh Zachy, hablas sin el, por favor.”
Huffing slightly, Zach shook his head slightly, “Um, no comprendes, hables Ingles you stupido twat-o,” he said, making a grab for his dictionary.
“No comprend-o, Zachy. Yo-o. Remember that,” Quinn rolled his eyes, nearly identical to the familiar move by Zach, bonking his brother on the head with the book before giving it over.
The train started moving and Zach jumped a little but settled back in, pulling out his camera to fiddle with it a little. “So, where are we headed now?”
Zach ignored the way his brother was nearly dangling off the edge of the train, because if he fell, Zach wasn’t going after him. Quinn, for being such a smart fella, acted pretty stupid sometimes. See; hanging off a moving train in the middle of nowhere. “Um, we are headed up into the glacier park. The Argentinean ministry has reported some interesting things going on up there so we’re going to have to climb into the park and investigate. Don’t lean back on your bag like that you’re carrying our equipment.”
Zach rolled his eyes again but shifted so his bag wasn’t resting behind him, even tough it was kind a nice little rest. Maybe he could get his brother to switch backpacks for the next leg. “Like the abominable snow man?”
“Something like that,” Quinn gave him a wolfish grin before letting it lapse into silence, writing in his own journal, probably to his dorky girlfriend, Zach thought.
Thinking of girlfriends, Zach reached into his pocket and pulled out his picture of Brianna and grinned, wondering where they’d be when he had to ‘call’ her tonight. “So, are you going to give me the low-down on this girl, Zachy? I thought you hated her?”
Zach flushed brightly and jumped a little, not realizing his brother was right there over his shoulder. He quickly put the picture away which involved a bit of trying to wrestle it away from Quinn, “Oh, is my baby brother in looooooove?” his brother cooed, getting an elbow in the solar plexis for his efforts.
“Cállate Quinnifer!” Zach yelled, at his brother as Quinn went on in a singsong voice about being in love.
It was going to be a very long trip.
