You And Me - A Collection of Les Twins One Shots

Without You

Larry's first airplane ride ever was to Guadeloupe.

He didn't remember much from the flight itself, only that his legs hurt from being jammed against the front seat and that his mom was snoring loudly enough for the other passengers to shoot them looks.

At the time, none of these things held importance. Not the sky stretching out beneath them or the turbulence shaking them or the stewardess smiling at him. All Larry could think about was that he would finally get to see Laurent again.

It almost felt surreal. Like all of this was just a cruel joke and soon he would wake up to the same loneliness he's felt for the past seven months. But no matter how many times Larry pinched himself, he was still in that airplane and the distance between Laurent and him was still shrinking.

Their mom had bought them flight tickets for their birthday.

It had been a huge surprise, the whole family putting together whatever little they had to make a trip possible. Larry had bawled when he'd first pulled the ticket out of its envelope. He'd hugged their mom and siblings hard enough to cut their airways off and then he'd called Laurent to tell him the news.

Two weeks later and here he was 35 thousand feet in the air and buzzing with nervous energy. His mind kept going in circles about what it would be like to finally see Laurent again after so many months. To hear his voice for real again and not just over the cackle of the phone. To see his smile. Hear his laugh.

Larry teared up every time he thought about it. His heart ached with the need to see his brother and it's been aching for so long that Larry could hardly function at all. Now that they were almost back together again, the need had seemingly increased tenfold. It was almost like magnetism. The closer they got, the stronger the pull became.

"Larry, try to catch some sleep," his mom scolded softly from the seat next to him. "It's gonna be a long flight."

Larry bit his bottom lip and settled back against his seat.

Nine hours to go.

xxx

Their aunt picked them up from the airport with her youngest daughter and Larry's heart sank at the realization that his twin was yet another two-hour car ride away from him.

"He wanted to come but I can't have him miss school for this," their aunt Livienne explained after marveling about 'how tall' he had gotten and about just how much they looked alike.

Larry's eyes narrowed.

His aunt was part of the reason why they had gotten separated in the first place. If she hadn't offered to take Laurent in half a year ago, none of this would have happened. And now he couldn't even miss school for "this" like the fact that they hadn't seen each other in half a year didn't hold enough meaning or something. Like it wasn't important enough.

"—even their hair is the same. And the height and everything."

"Of course it's the same," Larry threw in. "He's my twin. We'll always look alike. It's not gonna change just because he lives here now."

His mom clipped him around the ear for his insubordinate behavior but Larry didn't care. He just rubbed his head and looked at his aunt in defiance.

They didn't even know how much damage they had caused. And maybe that was the worst part. From one day to the next Laurent had just been gone from his side and now they were chatting about luggage and about where to buy fish on the way home like it was just a regular Sunday morning.

"I see why you've kept this one on a short leash," Livienne said with a cheeky grin that reminded Larry of his own. He was practically buzzing with tension, tapping his foot against the airport floor impatiently. "He comes a bit more after his father."