Who invented this fagging system anyway?
Title: Series: Edmund Pevensie's Schooldays Part 5/?: Close eyes, open heart
Pairing: Peter/Edmund
Rating: PG
Summary: An interval, an aftermath, a small diversion from plot (XD)
Disclaimer: All made up, Whetstone is not a real place, none of the characters (except Ed and Peter of course) are based on anyone.
Warnings: Very short chapter, incest, schoolboys
Dedicated:To the one and only suborbital who is wonderful beyond words
“To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.
-Charles Dickens
Edmund lay on his back and looked up at the ceiling. Every surface, every aspect of his world seemed to be made of cold grey stone.
He could hear the rustle back and forth, the slow creaking and light snoring of the other inhabitants of the infirmary, but he did not stir to take a glance.
As far as he was concerned, things were over now. He could not stay here any longer.
Like the cloud across a sun, his brother’s shadow fell over his bed and Edmund stopped breathing for a second, then another, for so long in fact that he felt the world start to wobble and fade away right in front of his eyes.
Peter wore a bruise between his eyes like a mark of battle.
“Baines knocked you out again Ed. You really do have to stop letting him do that.”
Peter’s words were harsh, but the crease of his eyes and curve of his mouth made Edmund’s heart lift a little, feel less like stone, and more like the rapid beating muscle of blood and life that it was.
“Colin…?” Edmund was weary of his own question. But something like responsibility, protection (or was it justice?) prompted him to seek the welfare of his weaker…friend…
Peter’s eyes clouded a little. “He...he’s gone Ed.”
“What? He’s…he’s not dead is he?”
The childhood fear of losing someone, beyond the point of ever being able to get them back (and is that the definition of death, or a certain kind of love?) came back to Edmund.
“What? No Ed, not dead.”
Peter reached over to rub Edmund’s shoulder, the frieze of his face pulsing, as if the small act cost him pain.
“He just, wouldn’t stop screaming.” Peter shuddered lightly, eyes far away in the memory. “They had to take him away.”
Edmund looked confused. “Who…I mean who was he…who was…?”
“Stronzo.” Peter looked sick with disgust. “I hate him for this Ed, I trusted that…I thought he was some kind of hero in this place.”
Peter swung away from Edmund, getting up and looking out of the window at the playing fields stretched out in a patchwork of green.
“It turns out..” Peter went on, face drained and eyes tired, back turned from Edmund’s searching eyes. “He and Colin were having some sort of messed up relationship. One of the other boys spilled his guts to me after the whole incident in the dining hall. Colin trailed around after Stronzo like a love sick puppy, and Stronzo, for his part, used him like a dog.”
Peter spat the words out as if it were his confession, eyeing Edmund as if he expected rage instead of forgiveness, an absolution.
“Peter none of this is your fault.” Edmund gestured wildly at their injuries, not quite sure what he meant by ‘this’. “If it’s anyone’s, it’s mine, for not seeing what was going on before.”
“Don’t be an idiot Edmund!” Peter said with the same tender insult as before. “Who invented this fagging system anyway? We’re supposed to be one of the most civilized nations in the world yet we teach our children to be slaves and bullies! It’s ridiculous.”
“I’m sure King George would be happy to hear your opinion on this Peter but right now, all I care about, is looking after ourselves in this place.”
“Listen to me…” Edmund said sharply before Peter could reply. “We’re family. From now on we have to stick together and that means you need to stop acting like some little circus master for all those freaks you call friends!”
Edmund realized with some shock that his voice had risen and he was on his feet, glaring at Peter.
Peter eyed him, looking almost scared for a moment, before coming right up into his face, making sure Edmund registered his height advantage.
“Now you listen to me little brother,” he snarled.
“Before you came here, everything was fine, I was the golden boy, Stronzo’s favorite. All I had to do was keep my head down, avoid that prick Baines, and I could escape with nothing worse than having to let someone beat off while they watched me shower…”
Ed’s mouth fell open in shock, all his anger drained out of his body.
“What…? Peter, what?”
“How do you think I’ve been protecting you, god damn it? By reciting lewd poems and sneaking them wine? Ed…”
Peter eyes were almost laughing now; bitter and broken like shards of glass as Edmund just nodded dumbly.
“Peter I…I’m sorry?” Edmund didn’t know what he should…what he wanted to say.
Peter laughed again, hollow mouth open like an empty cave.
“Just forget it…ok…Looking after you will be something I do until I die Ed…I…”
Peter looked something close to tender now, softening suddenly.
Edmund listened hard. But a strange pressure was making his eyes water. Vivid memories, and thoughts and visions rushing past his eyes until he was almost blind. Unsteady on his feet, he tipped forward and closed the gap between their faces, kissing Peter on the lips softly and with a tremble that ran through his whole body.
Peter shook, feet pitched unsteadily and swaying, watching Edmund back for but a moment before lurching away, face closed and eyes blank, his black pumps squeaking against the tiles as he walked out the door.
Edmund collapsed back onto the bed, his vision slowly bleeding back behind his eyelids, and ignored the threatening sting of his heart unraveling.
End of part 5
**************
I'm (sort of) getting back into this story now..I have a few more ideas I want to get in, so the next few parts will come, they just might take a while. Mmm, if you're still reading this now-you deserve a drink...or better yet go and read something by a proper writer/updater...
ps. wiffle, I know you're yelling at me from behind that computer right now...you're the angsty gal, I am a pathetic wimp of all proportions...
Pairing: Peter/Edmund
Rating: PG
Summary: An interval, an aftermath, a small diversion from plot (XD)
Disclaimer: All made up, Whetstone is not a real place, none of the characters (except Ed and Peter of course) are based on anyone.
Warnings: Very short chapter, incest, schoolboys
Dedicated:To the one and only suborbital who is wonderful beyond words
“To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.
-Charles Dickens
Edmund lay on his back and looked up at the ceiling. Every surface, every aspect of his world seemed to be made of cold grey stone.
He could hear the rustle back and forth, the slow creaking and light snoring of the other inhabitants of the infirmary, but he did not stir to take a glance.
As far as he was concerned, things were over now. He could not stay here any longer.
Like the cloud across a sun, his brother’s shadow fell over his bed and Edmund stopped breathing for a second, then another, for so long in fact that he felt the world start to wobble and fade away right in front of his eyes.
Peter wore a bruise between his eyes like a mark of battle.
“Baines knocked you out again Ed. You really do have to stop letting him do that.”
Peter’s words were harsh, but the crease of his eyes and curve of his mouth made Edmund’s heart lift a little, feel less like stone, and more like the rapid beating muscle of blood and life that it was.
“Colin…?” Edmund was weary of his own question. But something like responsibility, protection (or was it justice?) prompted him to seek the welfare of his weaker…friend…
Peter’s eyes clouded a little. “He...he’s gone Ed.”
“What? He’s…he’s not dead is he?”
The childhood fear of losing someone, beyond the point of ever being able to get them back (and is that the definition of death, or a certain kind of love?) came back to Edmund.
“What? No Ed, not dead.”
Peter reached over to rub Edmund’s shoulder, the frieze of his face pulsing, as if the small act cost him pain.
“He just, wouldn’t stop screaming.” Peter shuddered lightly, eyes far away in the memory. “They had to take him away.”
Edmund looked confused. “Who…I mean who was he…who was…?”
“Stronzo.” Peter looked sick with disgust. “I hate him for this Ed, I trusted that…I thought he was some kind of hero in this place.”
Peter swung away from Edmund, getting up and looking out of the window at the playing fields stretched out in a patchwork of green.
“It turns out..” Peter went on, face drained and eyes tired, back turned from Edmund’s searching eyes. “He and Colin were having some sort of messed up relationship. One of the other boys spilled his guts to me after the whole incident in the dining hall. Colin trailed around after Stronzo like a love sick puppy, and Stronzo, for his part, used him like a dog.”
Peter spat the words out as if it were his confession, eyeing Edmund as if he expected rage instead of forgiveness, an absolution.
“Peter none of this is your fault.” Edmund gestured wildly at their injuries, not quite sure what he meant by ‘this’. “If it’s anyone’s, it’s mine, for not seeing what was going on before.”
“Don’t be an idiot Edmund!” Peter said with the same tender insult as before. “Who invented this fagging system anyway? We’re supposed to be one of the most civilized nations in the world yet we teach our children to be slaves and bullies! It’s ridiculous.”
“I’m sure King George would be happy to hear your opinion on this Peter but right now, all I care about, is looking after ourselves in this place.”
“Listen to me…” Edmund said sharply before Peter could reply. “We’re family. From now on we have to stick together and that means you need to stop acting like some little circus master for all those freaks you call friends!”
Edmund realized with some shock that his voice had risen and he was on his feet, glaring at Peter.
Peter eyed him, looking almost scared for a moment, before coming right up into his face, making sure Edmund registered his height advantage.
“Now you listen to me little brother,” he snarled.
“Before you came here, everything was fine, I was the golden boy, Stronzo’s favorite. All I had to do was keep my head down, avoid that prick Baines, and I could escape with nothing worse than having to let someone beat off while they watched me shower…”
Ed’s mouth fell open in shock, all his anger drained out of his body.
“What…? Peter, what?”
“How do you think I’ve been protecting you, god damn it? By reciting lewd poems and sneaking them wine? Ed…”
Peter eyes were almost laughing now; bitter and broken like shards of glass as Edmund just nodded dumbly.
“Peter I…I’m sorry?” Edmund didn’t know what he should…what he wanted to say.
Peter laughed again, hollow mouth open like an empty cave.
“Just forget it…ok…Looking after you will be something I do until I die Ed…I…”
Peter looked something close to tender now, softening suddenly.
Edmund listened hard. But a strange pressure was making his eyes water. Vivid memories, and thoughts and visions rushing past his eyes until he was almost blind. Unsteady on his feet, he tipped forward and closed the gap between their faces, kissing Peter on the lips softly and with a tremble that ran through his whole body.
Peter shook, feet pitched unsteadily and swaying, watching Edmund back for but a moment before lurching away, face closed and eyes blank, his black pumps squeaking against the tiles as he walked out the door.
Edmund collapsed back onto the bed, his vision slowly bleeding back behind his eyelids, and ignored the threatening sting of his heart unraveling.
End of part 5
**************
I'm (sort of) getting back into this story now..I have a few more ideas I want to get in, so the next few parts will come, they just might take a while. Mmm, if you're still reading this now-you deserve a drink...or better yet go and read something by a proper writer/updater...
ps. wiffle, I know you're yelling at me from behind that computer right now...you're the angsty gal, I am a pathetic wimp of all proportions...