Francis stepped out of the airport about half an hour after three o'clock in the morning, cool air of Paris brushing through his hair, welcoming home. "Francis!" he heard a soft call from between the crowd. After a few moments he found the person he was searching for: his younger brother Matthieu waving. Francis went to him and embraced him, happy to see his little brother again. "Sorry to get you out of your bed so early in the morning," he said when Matthieu looked at him with his kind blue eyes. "It's nothing, come on, this way," he replied, and led Francis to his small car. As usual, Francis had to fold his knees to be able to sit nicely in the tiny car. "How's university? How's little Michelle?" he asked, trying to make small talk to keep his mind off more worse things. "Studies are going well, I'll be getting my BA soon and well, Michelle is finishing her 11th grade this spring and she worries father with all these plans of going traveling with her friends during the summer, although mother is all thumbs up about backpacking and meeting new people," Matthieu spoke, driving through the half-empty city. "I haven't heard for a month from you. I remember you told me you'd bring Arthùr with you, couldn't he make it?" Francis tightened the grip he had on his seat-belt and quietly answered: "No, he couldn't." Matthieu looked at his big brother, sad to see him not in his own element. "That's how you love someone, I guess - when you can't experience anything without wishing the other person were there to see it, too," he told Francis, when he watched him look at the soft lights of Paris shine in the now lightening sky. Francis glanced at him and sighing, he smiled. Looking at the lanterns, he had just thought how he had planned to surprise Arthur with tickets to Paris, so he would be able to experience what he had given to the Frenchman when they ventured through the dusty streets of London. He hadn't even been there for a year, but already that much had happened.
"It's crazy - how one minute you are making all these plans and promises with someone and the next minute they are out of your life. All it takes is one moment, one word, or one misunderstanding to create a ridiculously large amount of doubts and pain. It's easy to forget a person, but the words, the feelings and the anticipations that you two have once built stays forever. It digs holes into your heart, and it simply hurts," Francis said, resting his tired head against the window frame. "And... I could never forget him." Matthieu drove him to his old loft, which once used to be a warehouse, now converted to an apartment building. They stepped out of the car and after giving his brother the keys, he wished him a goodnight and told him he's expected to a family dinner the next day. Francis bit his lip; his parents would surely ask about Arthur. His brother ran to him and hugged him again, trying to calm him, since he saw him starting to get agitated. "It's amazing how someone can break your heart and you still love them with every shattered piece of it," he whispered, holding his older brother, who had always been there for him and who now was in need of someone himself. "Everything will be alright, Francis, I know it in my heart. And I know he does too and so do you." Francis nodded and turned to leave, watching how Matthieu drove off before going to the big cargo elevator. After having ridden to the top floor, he entered the open apartment, dimly lit from the light emanating through the strong glass ceiling and walls, which seemed as a mirror from outside. He dropped his bags beside the big metal doors and went to the bed, just falling to it. Emotionally and physically exhausted, he checked his phone before covering his face with his hands and going to a restless sleep.