Ficlet: Invitation (Peter/Caspian)
Title: Invitation
Pairing: Peter/Caspian
Rating: PG
Genre: Fluff
Summary: Caspian is taking a bath, Peter is hesitating, and Susan knows fully well what is coming up.
Disclaimer: No, I don’t own these lovely slashy characters.
Warning: English is not my first language and I’m too lazy to find a beta. Sorry for any mistakes.
Peter, the honorable High King of Narnia, was no peeping pervert. The fault was all Caspian’s - what was the Prince thinking, bathing himself naked in the river under broad daylight?
"So you want him to take baths in the pitch black of the night, fully dressed?" asked the sensible Susan.
Peter was sure he was about to come up with an equally sensible answer before the Telmarine flung back his long dark curls, shaking off drops of water which slid down his lean, olive-skinned body, leaving thin trails of wetness shimmering in the soft sunlight. All words evaporated on Peter’s lips.
It was not long before Caspian began splashing water on his bare chest with his head thrown back a little, exposing the graceful curve of his neck, a sight which made the High King gulped. And when the Prince absently trailed his fingers through the water surface, Peter could not help imagining those long, elegant fingers on his own skin, gliding like a lover’s caress…
Crack!
The branch he had been holding onto snapped as he unconsciously tightened his grip against it, eliciting an "ouch!" from the tree to which the branch belonged. "Please, your Majesty, be gentle to a good old tree."
"Oh - I’m - I’m sorry," Peter stuttered. After living in England for one whole year, sometimes he did forget trees in Narnia could feel, think and talk.
"Your Majesty may want to join his Highness," the tree suggested gently.
"It’s not as easy as that," Peter frowned, looking a bit reproachful as if the tree were a creature which knew very little of human troubles.
"I think that’s not a bad idea at all, Peter," said Lucy, pulling at her brother’s sleeve.
"It’s not as you think, Lu," Peter sighed, sounding a bit tired as if his sister were a little girl all too naïve in interpersonal relationships.
"For Aslan’s sake, just stop being a wuss and move your arse already!" Edmund shook his head.
"Oh shut up, you fool!" Peter hissed, gritting his teeth as if his brother were a pompous, nosy git who talked too much for his own good.
Without making any comment, Susan tilted her head a little, her left elbow resting in her right hand and her chin in her left palm, and smiled a knowing smile.
"What?" Peter snapped, putting up an extremely annoyed face as if his sister were a silly, hopeless romantic. But deep in his heart, he grudgingly admitted Susan was always the more knowledgeable one when it came to certain issues of life…
"Peter? Why don’t you come and join me?"
Caspian, still half submerged in the water, waved his arm and called out. Although he had his back to them all, no one had the tiniest doubt that the Prince was smiling.
"HURRAH!"
Giving a loud cheer, Peter hopped over to the river in a most unkingly manner, stripping his shirt on the way and throwing it high into the air.
"Silly, hopeless romantic!" Susan giggled in his wake, and promptly shooed her wide-eyed brother and sister away from the spot.
A breeze blew through the woods. The branches of the tree fluttered gently, its soft laughs barely audible as it diverted its gaze well-manneredly from the two happy young men in the river.