To my friends I'm a stranger (Meric)

[Deleted]

May 21st, 2026

For some odd reason, Gus actually felt a little nervous about the fact his father or brother was coming to pick him up from the hospital rather than Alix or one of his friends. He certainly did not want Camila to pick him up, although that was more because the likelyhood the press would follow her around was a lot bigger. He hadn't wanted this to become news and Charlotta had done a lot to avoid it. Since none of the people that visited had mentioned it becoming a widely known fact, he figured it was all good. Now considering their sister worked here it was not strange at all for one of his family members to come here. Alfie had brought him here and now that it was time to go home, he figured he couldn't just take his car and go. For starters, he was fairly certain that would have been dropped off at his home sooner or later.

It must have been somewhat late in the afternoon that one of the nurses told him that his brother was waiting for him. Well, seems fate wanted him to be picked up by the relative he had the absolute worst relationship with. Though Gus had slowly began to mend his own heart there, mostly since Amy, unlike Alix, had visited him multiple times. Not that Gus had reacted to anything at all. He'd pretty much been catatonic. He nervously looked over one of the sheet papers before putting it back inside it's box and carrying it along with his bag to the reception where Amy was bound to be waiting.

He walked over to his brother and there was a slightly strained smile on his lips, clearly a product of some nerves. "Thanks Meric, I really appreciate you coming to pick me up." He said calmly and all earnest. He took a bit of a breath to steady himself. "And thanks for visiting while I was in here. It did mean a lot." He admitted, almost reluctant because he just wasn't the type to be vulnerable around ... anybody. There was always a certain amount of reserve to him that he was letting go of just a little. The bond between himself and Meric had been brittle enough without him making it worse. He wanted to start off on a better footing, so he even spoke English rather than French. Yet he knew he'd go straight back on the defensive if his brother was going to make too much of a point of that. This was a bit of a big step for him after all.

@aymeric

[Deleted]

@auguste

he couldn't blame his brother. the world was a place that could take a hold of you and drag you down into the pits of despair regardless of what someone did or had. he'd seen it with his mother while he'd been growing up. nothing anyone did had made any difference, the children she'd had, the love they'd given her or the life they'd been able to have. the world had been too much for her and for a long time he'd been angry at her for it. because it had forced him to be something more than a son, more than a brother and he had fought against it. then he'd left and tasted freedom and he'd not returned home and he had to live with the guilt he'd forever feel because he had left. he'd never told his brother that he felt guilty for not coming home all those years ago. he'd reasoned with himself that he had nothing to feel guilty for, he'd been living his life, he'd put himself first and his father had supported him in that but there would always be a part of him that felt like he could have done something, even if he didn't admit it very often.

that's why he'd been there when he'd found out about gus. he'd been there as much as he could and as much as gus had wanted him there. juggling his work, his family and visiting his brother hadn't been too much of a burden and regardless of how rocky things were between him and his brother he'd be there. they were family and that's what it boiled down to at the end of the day. it had just taken them a little bit longer to come to that conclusion than it should have.

so here he was, waiting to pick his brother up in a much more sedate car than his brother owned. it might have seemed strange to some wizards, having cars but meric had children with muggle family and while most of them know what the children he raised with his wife were, there were some that if was just easier to lie to. so the car helped keep up that illusion. he was leaning against the hood of the car as his brother walked out of the building and he straightened a little, not sure what he should say in this moment. it had been easier while his brother had been inside, because now there were no buffers, there were no nurses to come in and break any tension. it would just be them.

"well i couldn't leave you there." he said with a small grin. "the nurses might frown on it and they know where i live." he teased his brother a little, responding in english. it didn't escape his notice that gus had forgone talking in their native tongue but he wasn't going to mention it. he had a feeling it was gus's version of an olice branch and meric not pointing it out was him accepting that. "you're welcome gus." he said almost simply but with feeling. the two of them would never be emotional, at least not vulnerable emotional with each other. neither of them were built that way. meric himself had a live and let live, smile through anything and 'everything's fine' approach to his emotions. "shall we?" he said as he walked around the car to open the door for gus. "it's a little slower than your used to."

[Deleted]

Of course there was tension. There always seemed to be. It was slowly seeming to become a fact of life. Gus felt as though it needed to be resolved somehow, but he wasn't sure how. All his time of reflection hadn't really lead him much further in the way to handle his relationship with his brother. It seemed far more useful and easy to work on how he was going to fix those things he considered problems in his own life. Things like how to arrange his future now that the dreams he'd once had, had completely fallen apart. A box full of sheet music and lyrics was the best he'd been able to do and it was how he'd known he was on the right track. Now standing before his brother with said box speaking in a foreign language just felt like a mockery of his progress. He was trying for sake of the relationship he wanted with his brother.

He got in the car about wordlessly after a brief nodded as his brother said he was welcome. They were trying. He looked at the car. It was decent, he supposed. It wasn't particularly spectacular. Then again, his brother had never been quite as.... flamboyant as he himself was. A little slower. That likely meant this was going to take a lot of time. He waited for his brother to walk around and get in on his own side of the car. "You can always take me to the house in London if you don't mind the traffic. It's a bit less of a ride." He didn't really want to make his brother drive all the way to france when he had a secure fireplace connection between his two not so humble abodes. He'd probably go to France one way or another, if only for the sake of Phillipe. He was sure his pet had missed him and that he'd be getting plenty of tiger cuddles when he got back. He had that kind of a bond with Phil, after all. He glanced at his brother briefly. "Have you seen my London place yet? I'm afraid I don't really remember. Part of recovery or something." He muttered with a half shrug. It was a lot harder to talk to him compared to Alix.

@aymeric