December 30th
You've been crying
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"Hey."
"Hey..."
"Are you alright?" Peter asked, his voice soft and he genuinely sounded concerned.
Edmund stared at him, before nodding. "Yeah," He whispered. "It was just - loud."
Edmund was currently sat on a bench in the gardens of Cair, having wanted to be alone, but what with the recent events at Beruna Peter was reluctant to let his little brother out of his sight for more than a minute, so Edmund wasn't really surprised that he'd been followed.
"You've been crying." Peter felt the need to point out.
"No I haven't." Edmund lied.
Peter sat on the bench beside him with a sigh. "Your eyes are red, puffy and wet but you haven't been crying?" He questioned.
Edmund looked away, absent mindedly wiping at his eyes. "I-" But he didn't know what to say.
"What's really the matter?" Peter asked quietly. "Because "it was too loud" isn't a very good excuse for leaving."
Edmund had known Peter wouldn't believe that, he honestly didn't know why he'd even tried it, but now he was stuck in a position where he was going to have to tell his older brother the truth, and he didn't like it.
"I'm fine Peter." He tried.
"Not gonna work," Peter told him. "Talk to me. I'm not leaving until you do."
Edmund sighed, chewing on the inside of his lip and bouncing his leg up and down, feeling rather anxious all of a sudden. "It-" He swallowed hard, blinking back more tears that had suddenly rushed to his eyes. "It hurts."
Peter froze at the whispered revelation, and his heart immediately skipped a beat.
"My - My stomach," Edmund choked out. "My scar."
Peter stared at him for a moment or two, before pulling himself together. "Still?" He asked quietly.
Edmund nodded. "It hasn't stopped hurting since Beruna." He admitted. "It's healing, but it's taking its sweet time."
Peter placed his arm around Edmund's shoulders, pulling him closer. "You don't have to hide this from me." He told him. "I hope you know that."
"I do know that," Edmund sighed. "I just - didn't wanna worry you is all."
"Don't worry about that," Peter said with maybe a hint of a smile. "I'd rather worry over something I know about than worry over you because I don't know what's going on."
Edmund thought about this for a moment before he nodded his head. "That makes sense." He whispered.
"Look, you don't have to go back up to the celebrations." Peter told him. "You can literally go and climb into bed and stay there for the rest of the night if you'd rather."
Edmund couldn't deny that that idea sounded absolutely heavenly. "Yeah but they'll realise I'm missing and start talking." He muttered. "I'm not exactly in a lot of their good books right now."
"Let them talk." Peter said with a shrug. "It's none of their business where you are, and all you're doing is sleeping, which you completely deserve after everything that's happened these last few days."
Edmund sighed, resting his head against Peter's shoulder. "Could you come up with me?" He asked almost shyly. "Just for a minute."
Peter smiled. "Course I will." He replied, and there wasn't a second of hesitation.
Edmund was extremely grateful for this, and within the next five minutes they were up in their soon to be shared bedroom, because Edmund was still having nightmares and Peter was the only one who could calm him down, and Peter also didn't want him in a room by himself all night, so they had decided in their best interests to share a room for the time being.
"Get changed and into bed." Peter told his brother. "I'll sit with you a while."
Edmund nodded.
He didn't want to take his tunic off in front of Peter, knowing all too well what marked the skin underneath, but Peter was staring at him, like he wanted to see, like he wanted to know how bad it was. Peter needed to check, for his own piece of mind, because Edmund had no doubt that when Peter closed his eyes, all he could see was the scar before it was just a scar, and after it was nothing.
So Edmund reluctantly slipped the tunic off, and Peter was quick to walk over, inspecting the healing wound like he was scared it was going to reopen then and there in the bedroom.
"It's fine Peter," Edmund reassured him. "Just sore is all."
Peter sighed but nodded. "Just please try and be careful." He mumbled. "Last thing any of us want is your to tear it or damage it more."
"I'm being careful don't worry." Edmund told him, before shivering slightly.
"Get dressed and into bed." Peter repeated, grabbing Edmunds nightclothes and handing them over to him.
Edmund did as he was told, and was soon enough buried under at least three blankets, Peter practically tucking him in.
"How old do you think I am?" Edmund teased him.
Peter did smile at this, but carried on until Edmund was firmly tucked into bed, barely able to move.
"Think you did too much of a good job there Pete." Edmund breathed kindly, shuffling around a bit to try and loosen the blankets.
Peter adjusted them until Edmund was happy, before sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Get some sleep," He murmured. "God knows you need it."
Edmunds eyes were truthfully already drooping, but he seemed to be scared to fall asleep.
"I'll be right here if you wake up." Peter said, as if sensing his fear. "You'll be fine."
Edmund wanted to fight it more, but between the warmth of the blankets, his exhaustion, and Peter running a hand through his hair repeatedly, he was fighting a losing battle.
He lost quickly, and Peter watched as he slipped off into a deep sleep, breathing evening out as he did.
He knew Edmund wouldn't be asleep for long before the nightmares took hold, but for now he could just enjoy the fact that his brother was getting some much needed sleep, because if Edmund needed anything it was rest - especially after the last few days.
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Well a one shot over 1k words is practically unheard of, BUT it's the second to last one shot of this challenge so WHY NOT 😉🩷
HOW IS THERE ONLY ONE LEFT?!
