You And Me - A Collection of Les Twins One Shots

Lumière

Laurent can't be in Larry's presence after they finish the first rehearsal.

He feels physical pain. Not just the emotional anguish that thinking about a life without Larry brings but actual physical pain.

When they do the entire performance for the first time, something shifts out of place inside of him. It's worse than when they fight, worse than when they're apart for a long time. There are a thousand different types of pain related to Larry and none of them match the one he feels right now. Watching him being lifted into the air with his entire body sagging lifelessly from the straps, shoulders dropped, head lolling. Features lifeless. Laurent knows the image will forever be burned into his mind, and that he'll continue to see it for the rest of his life, every day from now, every time he closes his eyes and he's so fucking thankful that it's Larry up there and not him. If only to spare his brother this image. If only to spare him the pain.

He cries himself to sleep that night. Bitterly. And he's far away from his brother, ignoring the way his phone blows up on the nightstand. He only texts Larry one message. Just one. Just enough to let him know that he's alive. Because he knows anything else will only make it worse. And then he lies awake and he cries until he's all out of tears, until his gaze goes vacant, until he's staring unblinkingly because he'd rather go blind than face Larry's dead, lifeless form one more time.

He knows one day it won't just be an image. It won't just be a theater play. It will happen. One day he will feel Larry depart from his soul forever. And he'll get to know a world that his twin brother is no longer a part of. He doesn't know how he knows, but he knows. It's his cross to bear, his and his alone because he'll never allow Larry to go through that. He has one thing, and one thing only in this life and he'll protect it with his dying breath. It's his final sacrifice. And it's the biggest one he'll ever make.

When they meet the next day, Larry is furious. They have an unspoken code about these things. Don't switch off your phone, don't run away from a fight, or leave the house in anger. It's just that Laurent felt so broken last night and it's not fair to make Larry feel his anguish on top of his own. So Laurent took the liberty to break their rules because he'd take Larry's anger a million times over his pain.

But of course, Larry wouldn't be Larry if he allowed this thing to just slide. The frustration is bubbling on the surface, the air is bristling with it, tension seeping from every pore on his body and Laurent thinks it's kind of ironic, that it's he's the one who feels guilty when Larry's the one who gets to die. When it's Laurent who has to watch him sink to the ground on a stage, his ethereal spirit lifting into the air. When it's  Laurent who goes through that phantom pain that will one day become a reality.

"So that's how we're gonna go about this? You just run off? Ignoring my calls and my fucking messages?" Larry demands, tears of frustration shining in his eyes. "You think that I can't feel you just the same as if you were in the same room with me?"

A tear spills over and Larry wipes at his cheeks angrily, the cords of his neck standing out beneath pale skin. He's breathing heavily, chest panting with all the energy he keeps bottling up and Laurent thinks 'I know' but he says nothing. He sees the pain etched into Larry's face, the dark circles under his eyes, and he knows without a doubt that his brother could feel him last night. That it hurt him to be denied the comfort he is used to receiving from him. That it hurts him that Laurent chose to deal with this himself instead of hugging it out, instead of just talking about it.

"I just needed some space, Larry."

"Fuck your space," Larry growls at him as if privacy is an insult to him. As if the idea of space between them is offensive.