Malevolence

~20~

In the heart of Puerto Rico, Laurent sits on a curb on a cobblestone street, only a feet away from what must be the biggest party he's ever seen. What seems like hundreds of people are flooding the street in front of him, jumping around and yelling and dancing their hearts out to the sound of the beats flowing from the heavy drums that are being pounded on from all around them. Natives are lining the street and mixed into the crowd, playing their traditional instruments and shouting along with the others, and in another situation, Laurent would be joining them.

Not tonight, though.

Laurent frowns as he watches from the sidelines, unmoving apart from the slight nodding of his head to the tempo of the drums. The energy is electric, buzzing in the air and dancing along his skin. He can feel the music in his bones, consuming him in the native melodies that he's heard often on the streets of Puerto Rico, but at the moment the songs and the dancing don't fill him with the excitement and joy they usually would.

He clenches his fist when he catches himself tapping along to the beat on his knee with his fingers, willing himself to stop feeling the music. It almost physically hurts to do that, but the hurt would be worse if he didn't. He would love nothing more than to let go and express himself the way he has all his life, with the gift of dancing, but no matter how much he would like to, he knows he can't. He understands himself well, and he knows exactly what will happen the second he lets himself move to the music- he'll think of Larry. He'll think of how empty he feels without him and how wrong it feels to dance without him, and he can't allow himself to focus on that more than he already does. It's hard enough to ignore the half of his heart that's missing, but dancing will take that feeling and magnify it by 100.

His muscles twitch and tense unconsciously to the beat, longing to pull him to the middle of the group, but he ignores the call of the music the same way he has for the past 5 months and forces himself to sit still, watching instead as his friend sways and jumps around in a flurry of movement in front of him. He doesn't know why Hayden dragged him down here, and he's not all too happy about it, so he doesn't try to hide his disgruntled expression when Hayden feels his burning stare and his gaze flicks over to Laurent.

His friend stops jumping around the second he catches sight of the frown gracing Laurent's features, his own exuberant grin falling off his lips. He'd hoped that bringing Laurent here, getting him around the music and the people and the excitement, might get him to loosen up a little. If that look on his face is anything to go by though, then his plan is failing miserably. He sighs as he pushes his way out of the tightly packed group of people in the middle in the street, weaving in between the flying limbs to reach the disgruntled man sitting by himself on the outskirts.

"What's up, man? You good?" He asks, lowering himself to sit next to his friend, and Laurent glares at him in annoyance.

"What am I doing here for, bro? I don't wanna sit around watching you try to get girls all night." Hayden rolls his eyes, knowing better than to let the aggressive tone and venomous stare bother him.

"You're here because sitting around here is still better than sitting around in your room all alone." Laurent doesn't say anything in response, just continues to stare blankly at him with a look in his eye that Hayden can't distinguish. He sighs again, nudging Laurent's arm lightly with his shoulder. "Come on, bro. I know it's one of your off days, but you need to be around people. Plus, it's a dance party, I thought you'd like it." Laurent turns to look at him, this time with a glare that is much more angered than the previous one.