You And Me - A Collection of Les Twins One Shots

Choice

Laurent made a point of not interfering or questioning Larry's love life anymore. Whenever he had tried to do that in the past, it had never led to anything good, so he had taken a step back from the drama and decided to no longer involve himself until absolutely necessary.

So it came to a bit of a surprise when he found himself standing in Lylah's kitchen one day.

Larry had gone upstairs to help Lilo pack her stuff for the weekend and Laurent had somewhat awkwardly resigned himself to having a cup of coffee with Lylah while his brother and niece were getting her ready.

Lylah looked him up and down carefully. "You gonna stay with them for the weekend?" 

"Nah, I'll just drop them off," Laurent shrugged.

It wasn't that he didn't like Lylah or anything. She was Lilo's mom and that made her family. But Laurent didn't forgive and forget easily where his brother was concerned and despite Larry's own mistakes and shortcomings throughout their relationship, Laurent would never be able to forget the pain she had caused Larry once. 

"You should stay," she encouraged to his surprise. Her voice was gentle, her expression soft when she picked her next words. "She loves to have both of you around."

Laurent shook his head, despite the comfortable warmth spreading in his chest. He loved to spend time with Lilo. He loved all of his nephews and nieces, of course, but Lilo was Larry's and that made her special.  Even so... he hesitated. The truth was that he didn't like to outstay his welcome whenever Larry was with his daughter. Being on the road so much, they didn't spend half as much time in Paris as they'd have liked to, so whatever little time Larry had with his daughter was sacred to him. 

"They need time for themselves, just the two of them." 

Lylah raised her perfectly-shaped eyebrow at him. "Huh."

Laurent frowned, sensing the shift in her expression. "What?"

"Nothing," she said. "Just never thought I'd hear those words out of your mouth."

Laurent had a bad feeling about where this was headed. "Why?"

"Because," she sighed. "You're usually not that generous with Larry's time." 

Laurent narrowed his eyes at her. "I would never put myself between them."

"You don't have to 'put' yourself anywhere to be between Larry and everyone."

Laurent's eyes narrowed even further. There was an awkward beat of silence and Laurent shook his head with an annoyed breath. "You done pretending that this is still about Lilo?"

Lylah smiled and put her coffee down on the counter between them. 

It wasn't a kind smile. 

"You know what she asked me the other day?" she continued slowly, looking down at the counter between them. "She asked how much I loved her and I said 'more than anything in the world' and when she asked me the same thing about Larry..."

Laurent pressed his lips together against a sudden wave of anger. "How can you say that? He adores her. He'd do anything for her." 

"The question wasn't whether he loves her or not. I know he does. I can see that."

"Then what are you saying?" Laurent demanded, suddenly frustrated. "Because I can guarantee you that there's nothing more important to Larry than Lilo."

Lylah just continued smiling at him like he had missed her point entirely. 

"Really? You can't think of a single thing?"