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Calloused fingers picked through yellowed pages of an old photo album containing black and white photos from a different era.
Blue eyes roamed over a tall lithe figure dressed with an ornate military uniform with badges, patches, dangles, and a sharp sword strapped to his side. The look was completed with a silly tall hat and even the man wearing the uniform looked exasperated. The photograph was captured perfectly with the man rolling his eyes upwards and his arms crossed over his chest.
Ludwig never showed these photos to anyone.
They were rarely removed from their protective spot and the albums were dusted and cleaned every day to make sure they were kept in tip top condition. The photos had been transferred onto his computer in a server just for safe keeping but Ludwig never wanted to lose the originals.
He flipped another page and caught sight of the same man with a small boy. Both had light colored hair but the man’s head was uncovered this time and his helmet was on the boy’s head. His hair was messy and spiky but he looked upon the boy with such fond eyes that Ludwig couldn’t help the smile that crept up his lips.
The boy had a severe look on his face but he pouted when the man had placed the ridiculous hat on him. Ludwig remembered the memory with fondness.
“Brother, please remove the helmet. It clearly does not fit me well.”
The white gloved hand only pressed the helmet further down the small head, effectively covering the exasperated blue eyes. Brilliantly sharp red eyes looked down upon the boy with a great smirk and there was loud, raucous laughter that echoed throughout the hall that made the photographer jerk and nearly drop a lens.
“Ludwig, stop worrying and just take the photo like this! It’ll look fuckin’ awesome!”
“Brother!!” Though Ludwig protested, there was a hint of a smile on his face.
“Ludwig, come eat lunch, I’ve made enough for both of us!”
A voice coming from the kitchen roused him from his memories and Ludwig shut the album gently before placing it back upon the shelf and heading down. He strode across the wooden floors of the study and gently ran a hand upon the polished metal of the helmet on his way out before shutting the door behind.