FREE FLYING HEARTS -- A collection of short stories from Tonig73

::: 3 :::

Time stands still for no man, nor angel, apparently.  Laurent completed his course, no flying colours, taking three times as long as anybody else out of sheer obstinacy and willfulness.  Larry had insisted that he complete it properly, sincerely, really, and once he realized that, he completed it within the day.  The rest of the team had, and it was comparatively easy for them.  Their last group meeting was mainly about Laurent, in absentia.  He was asked if he would like to attend, and he refused.    The group were told he would be held to the same standards as everybody else, and while it was not their responsibility to make sure he toed the line, it would be to their advantage to help him do so.  They also had Larry, who had become indispensable to them, as he was most everywhere he went.  If they had a problem with Laurent, or more likely, he with them, they could very quietly, discreetly, tell Larry, who would invariably sort it.  

Larry and Laurent had come to an understanding.  If Laurent behaved, and was a good boy, Larry would leave him alone to do what he did best.  If he did not, then Larry would come down on him like a ton of bricks, and they would be joined at the hip for the next three days, Larry breathing down his neck, watching his every move.  Larry hated it, but Laurent hated it more, but that's why Larry did it, and usually with a smirk on his face.  Not only did they have an understanding, they were actually becoming, perish the thought,  --  friends  -- .  Laurent was revealing more of himself day by day, Larry praising him so subtly, he didn't even know it.  For putting himself out there, his actual feelings, such as they were, even if it was only for Larry to see.  He was always at Laurent's side, close by if he needed reassurance, giving him space when he needed to be alone.  Laurent was growing into his heart, piece by piece, shattered splintered shard by shattered, splintered shard.  

--  --  --  --  --  --  --  -- 

Laurent had made peace with the fact that he didn't do, or wasn't requested to do, high fashion campaigns or runway very often anymore.  But he did a lot more what was called lifestyle modelling, which was way more lucrative, and, believe it or not, he became well known because of it.  Runway and high fashion was amazing prestige, both for him personally, and for the agency, but there were young up and comers who were more than ready, willing, and would become, eventually, more able to fill Laurent's hard to fill shoes.  

Whereas runway and high fashion had put Laurent in an intense but narrow spotlight, a lifestyle campaign for a high end clothing or store brand saw him in every magazine, on every cover, and in every other T.V. ad for months on end.  His face and body being the company's "front", his contracts were for months, even years, instead of hours or days.  Laurent might have been vain and egotistical, but he wasn't stupid.  

And it was all thanks to Larry.  He saw Laurent's potential, and he made him do it.  He made him see, that instead of insisting on pulling on that rope that was meant to hang him, if he gave it just a little bit of slack, he would have much more leeway in his career.  Laurent found it amazing, that for such a young man, Larry was incredibly wise and stubborn and .... right.  Goddammit, he couldn't remember the last time he actually admitted to someone else being right.  That didn't mean he was wrong, not at all.  He was never wrong.  Never.  

--  --  --  --  --  --  --  --  

Larry had brought Laurent down to earth with a rather large bump.  Right on his coccyx, and it made him smart.  After that day in the bathroom, not at all liking the Laurent he seen in the mirrors' reflection, he knew it was time for some home truths, for some true reflection.  Larry only had a few months left of his assignment, and he had a lot of work to do in that time, if he was to call his mission successful.  If he was to return to Karen having restored Laurent's heart, and with the potential of it being redeemed in Heaven in due course. He could see, feel Laurent's heart becoming stronger every day, both of them building it back up, patching it back together.