You And Me - A Collection of Les Twins One Shots

Give Me Shelter

The cold nipped away at Laurent's fingers as he trudged up the stairs alongside Larry.

The building looked nice enough from the outside, with greenery framing the metal banister and a large welcome sign out front. 

When Larry hesitated in the doorway, Laurent placed a comforting palm on the small of his back, urging him forward. 

Laurent knew where his brother's hesitation came from. Despite growing up poor, their mom had always made sure they had a roof above their heads. So to set foot inside a homeless shelter felt like crossing the line from poverty to homelessness. But the night was creeping in over Brooklyn and the temperature was dropping fast. And while Laurent was no stranger to spending a night on the street, he'd rather kiss his pride goodbye and beg someone for shelter than watch Larry go through the same thing. The idea of his baby brother huddled up beside him in a fog-covered alley until his joints ceased to work and his lips turned blue, made Laurent shudder. 

So the shelter it was, at least for tonight, and while Larry had bitched and complained non-stop from the moment Laurent had first brought it up, Laurent had known exactly which buttons to press to get him on board with the idea. 

"Fine, we'll stay here, then, and get stabbed in our sleep by some fucking junkie. Better than the fucking shelter, right? At least we kept our pride."

Larry hadn't talked to him for the rest of their trip there, quietly sulking beside him as they took the underground to Brooklyn, because this whole situation sucked and they hadn't had a real meal since they got off the plane and maybe - just maybe - Larry was starting to realize that New York City wasn't as promising as Laurent had made it out to be.

The first impression they got from the homeless shelter after stepping inside wasn't too bad. 

The registration process was simple enough and the staff was friendly despite the language barriers. Laurent did most of the talking for both of them, even though his English was limited. He didn't understand much of the instructions they were given, only that there was a limited number of nights they could stay for and that there was food - yes, real food - one hot meal per day free of charge every evening and the sound of that was so promising that it got both of their stomachs growling in anticipation at the same time.

"You're hungry, huh?" the woman smiled at them kindly. "Well, it's just past dinner time, but I will see if I can arrange something." She looked young, but she had a maternal nature to her and in her eyes, they were just two poor innocent souls who were frozen half to death and who didn't speak the local language. Laurent wouldn't even have to try to get her to look out for them, she was already wrapped around his fingers two minutes into the conversation.

Larry shivered a little next to him, subconsciously huddling closer to Laurent as he sought out his twin's body heat as the lady rambled on and on about house rules and policies. 

"So, I'm gonna need you to fill this in here, here and—"

She handed them a registration form across the countertop, completely lost in her bureaucratic element, when Laurent decided to speed things up a little. 

"Excuse me," Laurent said, laying the French accent on thick. "Can't this wait until after we are warmed up," he asked. "My brother is freezing."

"Oh," the woman finally seemed to catch on with him, connecting the dots in her brain. A surge of compassion and regret suddenly flooded her face and just like that the paperwork was forgotten. "Oh my god, of course. You should get out of these wet clothes, first. We can finish the registration later."