Malevolence

~3~

Laurent sits on the floor of the gym, his long legs splayed out in front of him as he scrolls through his phone, bored out of his mind and more than ready for the workshop to start. That won't be for a while though; he got here early, early enough that crews are just now beginning to set up the speakers and DJ table, so he's attempting to entertain himself with mindless scrolling on social media and meaningless colorful games that he downloaded specifically for times like this.

He almost feels bad for sitting here uselessly while Eleni is scurrying around him putting everything together and making sure everything is in it's place, ever the devoted manager that she is, but he's tired and in a bit of a bad mood due to his and Larry's fights recently, so he's giving himself a pass. They're bothering him more than usual, and it bothers him that he's bothered at all, because if anything Larry should be the one feeling guilty about it.

Fights between he and his brother aren't uncommon. Probably half of their interactions have some form of argument, if not more, and most of them are similar to tropical storms- they're loud, intense, and short. That's just the way he and Larry function; it'd been that way since they were children and Laurent seriously doubts that it'll change anytime soon. They hate each other just as much as they love each other, and with both of those feelings being as intense as they are, some of the passion they share is bound to come out an explosion like that. It usually never bothers Laurent, he doesn't need Larry constantly around him, so he'll usually just kick his brother out until they both get over it an hour later, and then Larry's back right next to him where he belongs until the same thing happens again.

The only difference is, now Larry isn't coming back like he usually does.

He'd seen his brother exactly once since their last fight, when they'd arrived in the city and gotten to the hotel at about the same time. Larry had only been there for a few minutes, dropping his stuff off in his room before disappearing to wherever he went during the day. He'd stayed away from Laurent other than that, and the fact that he hadn't been around recently isn't what bothers him. It's the fact that he knows Larry's off doing something stupid with a woman that he's almost positive his brother shouldn't be involved with that bothers him. Every minute that Larry's not with him, he gets the sinking feeling he's with her, and even though Laurent doesn't know her- she could be awesome, he doesn't know or particularly care- he knows Larry being with her this soon after a breakup isn't a good thing. It's why he's only gotten angrier and angrier over the past couple days no matter how many friends he attempted to distract himself with- normally the separation is what allows both of the twins to cool off. But now, every second Larry is gone only aggravates Laurent more, and that's another reason he's overly anxious for the workshop to start.

He's very, very thankful that he'd agreed to do two so close together like this in spite of his busy schedule, because right now it's the only way he can be sure he's going to see Larry. His brother might come see him if he asked, he honestly doesn't know, but Laurent'd been a little too petty to ask and find out. That's how he ended up here, alone aside from the multiple staff members surrounding him and Eleni freaking out over some mix up with tickets for a few attendees.

He doesn't envy her job, he thinks absentmindedly as he watches her bounce between people asking her questions. It definitely seems more stressful than his, given that he gets to have fun while he works, and he can't imagine anyone would find what she's doing now fun. Someone's got to do it though, and he's lucky he and Larry found someone so devoted and sincere to be on their team.

Not to mention she could be more loyal to Laurent than Larry.

"Ok..." Eleni blows out a breath as she finally manages to put out all the fires that need to be taken care of, visibly slouching over in tiredness. She just has to make it through a couple more hours before the people get here, and that's when she gets to kick back and relax a little bit. Laurent looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to begin rattling things off to him. Eleni always has a little checklist in her head for events, and she typically ended up running through it verbally to Laurent, because usually he was the only one there. Laurent doesn't mind it much. It's just the way Eleni processes things, and she processes a lot for him and Larry, so it seems like the least he can do is let her think out loud at him for a few minutes.