July 20th - Prompt: Without you
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"It was weird, without you..."
Peter glanced up, frowning a little. "What do you mean?" He asked quietly.
Edmund shrugged a little. "What I said, it was weird without you in Narnia this time." He replied. "You've always been there, and then you weren't."
Peter sighed a little, sitting on the sofa beside his younger brother. "A good weird though?" He said with a small smile, a teasing hint to his voice. "You didn't have me there bossing you around?"
Edmund smirked at him, but shook his head. "No, a bad weird." He breathed. "You've always been there with me in Narnia, and when you weren't it just wasn't the same. I usually look to you to finalise a decision, I usually look to you to make sure I'm not doing something stupid, I usually look to you if I wanna talk with someone, or just hang out with someone. Don't get me wrong, Lucy, Caspian, even now Eustace are great company, but they're not you, and they never will be you, because you're you, but you weren't there this time, and I just guess it was hard."
Peter stared at his brother, not even realising that he was holding his breath. He could tell Edmund had been keeping that in for a while, so thought for a moment before replying. "As flattered as I am, surely you had a good time?" He murmured.
Edmund nodded. "Of course I did." He said firmly. "I was in Narnia, there's no way I couldn't of had a good time. But by the end of it I found myself wanting to go back, because it just wasn't the same without you, or Susan. I convinced Lucy to leave because you needed us, but now I'm wondering whether it was just me needing you."
Peter looked like he wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. "Oh Ed." He murmured, the smallest of smiles crossing his face. "You always were an odd one." Peter paused for a moment before placing a hand on Edmunds shoulder. "There's no shame in needing your family Ed, I'm sure Lucy's the same, she needs us, Susan needs us, I need you, you need us, we all need each other, and being apart just doesn't suit us. I wish I had been there with you, trust me I would've traded everything just to go back again, but I understood why I couldn't. I couldn't be there, but you could, you finally had your time to shine Ed, you're time to lead without me getting in the way."
Despite Peter's teasing smirk and that sentence, Edmund sighed. "Caspian was in charge." He murmured. "It was his ship, he's the King."
Peter hesitated. "So are you." He said softly. "Once a King of Narnia, always a King of Narnia, Caspian being crowned didn't rid you of your title, you're equals, or I would go as far as saying you're actually higher than him... But i hope you didn't try and kill him or anything."
Edmund chuckled weakly when Peter smiled, and shook his head. "Although it was tempting." He joked.
Peter laughed lightly. "Oh I'm sure it was." He breathed, before smiling. "I understand all you're feeling Ed, I get it, being apart from you for all those months I was away was torture, I can't imagine what it would've felt like for you, with the extra months in Narnia."
Edmund took a deep breath. "It's times like this that I realise just how close we actually are." He muttered.
"Being close isn't a bad thing." Peter said.
"I never said it was."
Peter stared at Edmund for a while before pulling him close. "I know you're not usually one for hugs, but seeming as we've been apart for so long I think we've earnt this one." He whispered.
Edmund hesitated a little, before wrapping his arms around Peter's shoulders.
"You need to stop growing." Peter told him gently. "You're going to be taller than me soon."
"Unfortunately we both know I'll never be taller than you." Edmund sighed.
"Oh yeah," Peter laughed. "Well that's good."
Edmund rolled his eyes, tightening his grip around his brother's shoulders as be took a deep breath. "I've missed you." He murmured.
Peter squeezed back, placing a kiss to the side of his head. "I've missed you too." He whispered. "So, so much."
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