♡●♡●♡
"You don't mean that." Says Lorenzo and Arthur sits down on his bed.
He doesn't know what he means or not.
What he thinks or wants.
"Can you leave me alone?" Arthur asks and makes no move to step out of the room.
He walks towards Arthur and crouches down in front of him.
"I know that you didn't want to get out that you are our brother, but we can't change that now." Says Lorenzo and Arthur nods.
"We can.......I can." Says Arthur with a deep breath.
"There is a reason why we kept this a secret, why I wasn't with you guys. They don't have to know we have a bond. I mean we never see each other anyway and-"
“Stop there.” Lorenzo stops him and Arthur looks at him.
"I'm not pretending that we don't speak or that I don't know you." Says Lorenzo and Arthur Huffs.
"Like you two even looked at me or asked me how I was doing in the last few years. You didn't care back then and even now you don't have to..... You have no idea who I am. " Says Arthur
"We'll talk about this later." Says Lorenzo.
"No, because we are not lying to people. We don't have a bond, and we are not close with each other, so it doesn't matter if people know that because it is the truth." Says Arthur and Lorenzo shook his head.
"We are not saying that to people." Says Lorenzo.
"I don't want to lie, Lorenzo. I won't say how two amazing brothers I have, because I have no idea who you guys are after 2017. I don't know what you like, what your hobbies are or what kind or tv shows you look at. I see you a few times in the year and even then you ignored me. I had vacations where I was alone and you guys didn't even care or pay attention to me guys. To keep in touch with you and all you two did was ignore me. I wasn't important to you back then, so I'm not important right now." Says Arthur.
"You are not a nobody. You are my little brother and, yes, I have not seen you a lot, but it is time to change that. When you were younger, we were always together. When I came home from school you were there waiting for me. Or when you got new toys you always wanted to wait until Charles and I were home so we could play with you."
"I was here, Lorenzo. I texted you, called you and I didn't get an answer back most of the times. I tried to stay in touch, and you can't say I didn't because it is right here on your phone. I didn't left, you two did, and I was so incredibly proud. Charles with his driving and you with your manager role, it is hard to not lose you two too." Says Arthur and he stood up. He walked towards his window and looked out of it. He doesn't want to get emotional, not in front of Lorenzo.
He saw his suitcase in the corner of the room and he sighed.
"We were busy and I forgot." Says Lorenzo.
"I would never blame you guys for waiting hours for a reaction. But a reaction would have been nice sometimes. It shouldn't have to be big, a small thank you or what ever would have been nice." Says Arthur and a knock on his door let him look up.
His mother walks in with an annoyed impression on her face.
"What are you doing here? They are waiting for you." She says angry.
"I'm not coming anymore. I don't have anything to say anymore to anyone." Says Arthur and looks at Lorenzo.
"You can go too, I want to be alone." Says Arthur.
"We will talk about this." Says Lorenzo and Arthur shook his head.
"I'm done talking." Says Arthur.
He hears Lorenzo sign behind him, but Arthur keeps looking out the window and, after a while he hears the door close, and they are both gone.
Arthur puts his hands on the windowsill, and he leans against it, his head hangs down and he closes his eyes.
When will the lying stop?
He stands up and goes towards his bed and lays down.
Everything is always his fault and he just doesn't understand it. What did he do wrong? What if it is him and why can't he see what he did wrong? He tried talking with them, on the phone, on the vacations... And then he gave up. They don't want him, so why is he trying so hard? He stopped texting them almost every day to ask how they are doing, he focused on school and work. Every now and then he would send them a message, but even then he would not receive a message back.
Did he say something that pissed them off? maybe he did.
He falls in his bed and grabs his phone. The last few days he didn't look much into it and even now, he wants to shut his phone off and throw it away. He doesn't want to see what people said or what they think about it. But at the same time, he does want to see the reactions or if it is already posted on social media. He hopes not.
The first thing he noticed was Dennis his name, he forgot all about him. They talked a few days in a row and since yesterday he hasn't.
And still he didn't press on his name and shut off his phone again. If he now opens Instagram he maybe will see his own face as the brother of Charles Leclerc.
♡●♡●♡
He slept terribly in the night. All night he couldn't turn off his thoughts. He couldn't find a comfortable position to lie in and kept moving back and forth, on his stomach, to his back, left side or right side. Leg out of bed, leg in bed. Arms under his head or next to his body. Hot or cold, blanket around him, blanket away from him. It went on and on, and he couldn't find a comfortable position.
Today he has the tour for his internship that he will conduct with Alice.
Alice has already sent him a message ten times asking if he really wants to go tomorrow and if they can also move it.
He doesn't want to keep running away from the problems that are being created. He loves his internship and the tours he can give are his favorite things to do. His internship is the last thing he wants to walk away from.
Plus, the people who work there won't know. Alice said it didn't reach social media yet, so maybe it will stay at the school.
He gets out of bed and grabs his clothes that he had already put out the night before.
Downstairs he quickly grabbed some breakfast and sat down on the couch. Lorenzo had gone home and his mother was still upstairs in her bedroom.
Since they left his room last night, Arthur hasn't seen or spoken to them.
Soon he heard the police leaving the house, Lorenzo and his mother were still talking, but he couldn't follow what they were saying and to be honest, he wasn't trying to listen either.
He went to the museum with his bicycle to wait for Alice.
Or she waited for him.
He arrived and Alice was already waiting at the entrance. He locks his bike and then walks towards her. She gives him a small smile and opens her arms, and he hugs her.
"I'm so sorry." She whispers.
"We can't do anything about it." Says Arthur and they let each other go.
"I was so mad at Nathan, and he just laughed right into my face. He's such a loser and I can't stand him." She says
"How did it happen?" Ask Arthur.
"Nathan saw you guys, and with Lias they set up this collage with all these pictures. On the Monaco Grand Prix weekend there were pictures of these mysterious guy with Charles, and now they think you are the person. Of course, you were but now it fits perfect into the story they shared." Explains Alice when they walk inside and Arthur sighs.
"I don't know what they have against me. Why do they feel the need to share this? It's not their lives." Says Arthur and Alice lays a hand on his back.
"I don't want to have contact anymore with my brothers." Says Arthur and Alice stops walking and Arthur looks back at her.
“Don't you think you're making this decision too quickly?” She asks.
"They haven't been here since years. We didn't talk much, or spend time together. They never bothered to call or message me back when I sent them something. And now they are back, and suddenly they want to do better. They are not doing better, but they are controlling my life and I don't want that. I want brothers who will listen to me and not accuse me for something I didn't do. They want to put me in rehab for drinking too much. I hardly drink, Alice. I don't have a problem, I wasn't the one who was drunk on Monday and still I'm at fault. And if Maman really cared about me, she wouldn't have done this." Says Arthur and Alice grabs his arm.
"So no, I don't think I'm making the decision too quickly, I'm protecting myself now. Something I finally realize with what is going on." Says Arthur and she nods.
"I'm sorry, you are right." Says Alice.
"It doesn't matter, you don't know everything, so I understand why you say it. I don't want to lose my family, but I have no idea how to do this anymore." Says Arthur.
“They want to send you to rehab?” She asks and Arthur nods.
"But we can talk about that later. Now we are here for our project and the tour will start in an hour, and we still need to get some things ready to start." Says Arthur and Alice nods.
“Let's do it.”
♡●♡●♡
“It got out?” Charles asks and sits up in bed.
"That's what Artur said. I don't see anything on social media yet." Says Lorenzo.
“But how?” asks Charles.
"I didn't really get a clear answer from him because he was very angry. But someone has a photo of me and Arthur together and I think that's the proof they have. Which is no proof, because I can talk to people without them being immediately related." Says Lorenzo.
"No, of course not. Maybe Arthur made it bigger than it was." Says Charles.
"He was really upset, Charles. Everyone will say that whatever job he gets in the motorsport world will be because he is your brother. And to be honest, he has a point in that, but it is not like you can do something about that." Says Lorenzo and Charles shook his head.
"And I don't know if I agree with him." Says Charles. "Why would he get a job because of me? He has a study he follows."
“Money, Charles.” Says Lorenzo and Charles makes an O shape with his mouth.
"He said he didn't want to speak with us again. And if this gets out, that we can tell everyone that we are not speaking and both have our own lives." Says Lorenzo.
"What the hell?'' Says Charles.
"Because we weren't here for him in the last few years, he don't need us now." Says Lorenzo.
"That's bullshit. We were there in the last few years next to racing. We were in Monaco a lot, and we went to vacations together." Says Charles.
"But we didn't spend lots of time with Arthur, did we?'' Asks Lorenzo.
"He was closed off."
"For a reason, Char. We really need to talk with him because I don't want to lose him. We need to be here more for him." Says Lorenzo.
"And what about last Monday? We can't just forget that, that's not fair to Maman." Says Charles.
"I don't know what happened, and I get two the same story's but the other person did it. I don't know what happened, but they clearly have lots of problems together." Says Lorenzo.
"How?" Asks Charles softly
"I still think it is a good idea to bring Arthur with us to Austria." Says Lorenzo.
"I don't know, Lo." Says Charles.
"Maybe it can fix our bond and help us to understand him more. He doesn't feel heard, and we can change that at the weekend." Says Lorenzo.
"You said he didn't want to talk to us anymore."
"Oh but I will. No way I'm letting him ruin our family. When he comes home tonight we will talk about it." Says Lorenzo.
"Let's do it then. If you think it is a good set, then we will try." Says Charles and Lorenzo nods.
"I really think it will do something good. He and Maman get some time from each other. And Arthur loves Formula 1, so he will like it. He said he didn't and that he doesn't want to go with us, but I will send the email to his school and internship, and then he has to come along." Says Lorenzo.
"He will be mad if you do that." Says Charles. "You said it yourself, he wants to have his own choice and we are not giving that to him then." Says Charles.
"But he will thank me in the end."
"You think he will, but I don't think so." Says Charles.
"Don't be so negative." Says Lorenzo
"You know what it is, Charles. He wants us to listen to him, but he's the one who doesn't want to talk and walks away from us. He makes it feel like it is our fault, but it is not always ours." Says Lorenzo
"No it's not." Says Charles and looks up at Pierre who clears his throat.
"Can I say something? I know I don't have the right because he's not my family. But can I give my opinion?" Asks Pierre and Charles nods.
"I think it will be good to bring him with you guys. He needs some time away from what is happening now. Take him to your job, Charles. Don't talk about what has happened. But give him a weekend to enjoy, to get his mind wrapped around things while he does something he enjoys. And if you can't have him around, he is welcome to come with me to Alpine, I can arrange something for him to watch. I don't care. But take him with you and don't talk about what happened, he will come to you when he is ready and feels safe to talk." Says Pierre.
"He knows he's safe to talk with us. We wouldn't do anything to him." Says Lorenzo.
"If he ran away from home, that means he doesn't feel safe to be around you guys. Don't you think he would try to talk with you guys more? He ran away to someone else and stayed there. He didn't feel safe to go home, otherwise he would." Says Pierre.
"He was mad, that's why he ran away." Says Charles.
"How do you know? Did you talk to him? Did he say that to you, like that he was angry and nothing else?" Asks Pierre and Charles stayed silent.
"Don't forget that he is young, and emotions are really hard. You said he was already closed off in Monaco. It's time you two spent time with him alone, without your mother. And then spend time with your mother alone, so they can have some time away from each other. I think they need that. What happened last Monday is not okay, but they tell something different and you two weren't there and have no idea what happened that. Don't lose your little brother more than you already have." Says Pierre.
♡●♡●♡
"How did you find it?'' Asks Arthur and Alice looks at him with a big smile on her face.
"I'm so jealous that you have such an amazing internship place." She laughs and grabs his arm.
"I see how much you enjoy giving these tours, and you tell everything with so much passion. You know so much and when they ask you questions, you answer all of them without thinking what to say. I learned so much." He says and Arthur smiles.
"You did?" He asks and she nods.
"Grab the book, so we can write everything down that we need to know." Says Arthur
"Oh and we still need to take a few pictures. I took some of you doing the tour and your internship teacher took one from us two too, when you were explaining things and I stood next to you... doing nothing." She laughs and grabs her phone.
"Look how good we are, you being the perfect student, and I'm good at doing nothing." She says.
"Don't be so negative. I really enjoyed having you with me." Says Arthur
"But Mr. Ardon knew I don't have an internship yet, so he knows I'm not doing much but learning from you." Says Alice and takes her notebook where she wrote things on during the tour.
"We could make a really cool presentation with this." Says Arthur
"We really can." Alice says and her eyes land on two girls standing further away.
"So what do we still need to do?" Asks Arthur, and takes his eyes off from the two girls that Alice was looking at.
"Pictures of the museum, some pictures of us and I want one with us standing outside in front of the entrance." Says Alice.
"We can do that an-"
"Is he the one from the pictures?" Arthur hears the whispers behind him.
"Uh and we still need my supervisor's report." Says Arthur while trying to ignore the girls.
"He looks like him. Shall we ask him? Maybe we really did get a tour from the brother of Charles Leclerc."
"I think he was happy with us, he looked happy." Said Arthur and ignores the sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Arthur." Says Alice softly and Arthur shook his head.
"Shall we take the pictures?" Asks Arthur and Alice nods softly.
"He does look like Charles a lot. I really think it is true that Charles has a younger brother."
"Let's go." Says Arthur and takes Alice her arm.
"Hey." Says Alice softly and looks into Arthur his eyes.
"I need to get used to this." Says Arthur and then starts walking.
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Happy King day to my fellow dutchies 🫶🧡