You And Me - A Collection of Les Twins One Shots

Demons

A/N: This one goes out to Dasha. 

Laurent

When Larry gets into one of his moods, everyone usually knows to stay clear.

He's like a ticking time bomb then, like a powder keg, ready to go off and everyone who knows him will be wise to take cover before he explodes. 

Now, Laurent can't do that. Whether he likes it to or not, he's tied to Larry in more ways than he's willing to admit to, which means that by the time Larry usually blows up, he's the only fatality.

For the past two weeks now, Larry has avoided him. When Laurent seeks his proximity, he sometimes goes as far as to scoot away from him on the couch or by the dinner table. Sometimes Larry doesn't respond to Laurent's texts for hours and when he does, he's very curt in his answers. He doesn't pick up the phone when Laurent calls. They haven't danced together in over a week. They haven't talked with each other in much longer. Larry doesn't tell him when he goes out with friends or when he's invited to a club. He just grabs his stuff and leaves without as much as a glance back.

Laurent knows there's an underlying issue here.

He also knows how this whole thing will go.

Larry is fighting demons in his head. Whatever is currently bothering him, he's trying not to drag Laurent into it. He's trying to be strong. To be independent. But in doing so, he's unconsciously pushing everyone who cares about him away. 

Laurent can't even recall the number of fights they've had in the past week alone and it's starting to wear him down.

He doesn't want to let it get to him. He knows Larry doesn't mean it. He knows that his twin is just crap at handling his emotions and that Laurent is the easiest target because they are practically the same person. Because Laurent's patience for Larry is endless. Because he will always forgive him, no matter what. But the truth is that it still hurts. It always hurts to get pushed away by Larry. Every single time. It hurts that Larry won't look at him, that he'll leave the room when Laurent enters it. That he'll blow him off on every hopeful offer to spend time together, every playful attempt at a conversation, every failed attempt to lighten the mood between them. It hurts that he'll choose the company of friends or acquaintances over Laurent's. That he'll pretend everything's fine when it's not.

Laurent gives him what he needs. Space. Time. He doesn't pressure Larry. He doesn't blame or confront him, not even when he gets mean or condescending. He just takes it. He takes the silence, the lack of attention, the coldness, the missed calls, the ignored messages. And he waits.

Eventually, Larry always comes around.

This time it takes three weeks, two days, and five hours.

They are in Paris with their mom and she has picked up on the tension. Larry is on his phone while they have dinner and it's utterly disrespectful.  If it was only Laurent, he'd swallow down his anger and move on, but their mom just spent two hours in the kitchen preparing a meal for them and Larry can't be bothered to even look up and that's unacceptable.

"What the hell is your problem?" Laurent bursts out, dropping his fork with a clatter. Larry's head snaps up and there's a fire there that can Laurent is utterly immune to. At this point, he's about ready to take his brother's head off. "You can't even put your phone down for dinner?"

Larry's eyes narrow in a warning. "Laurent, don't even start. This is important."

"More important than mami and me?" Laurent demands heatedly because they don't ever get to spend time, just the three of them. Sometimes, when Laurent is lying in some random hotel bed in some random country, this is the thing he craves the most. A home-cooked meal. Their mom's warm smile. Dinner with just the three of them, just like it used to be when they were younger. Laurent knows their mom doesn't get any younger. One day they won't have a chance to share this with her. "Look, you can ignore me all you want, but don't try this shit with mam—"