Work Text:
in the weeks (months, years) that followed the battle of beruna, peter would sometimes sneak in the chambers of his siblings at night, just to see if they were still all there, safe, unharmed, sleeping.
sometimes it would only take a few seconds, sometimes he would stay there a few minutes, a few hours. just to let himself believe that safe they were, no matter what his mind might tell him.
he would pass through every chamber ; one (still there), her bow hanging at the side of her bed, two (still breathing), his skin warm and unharmed, three (still sleeping) tucked in bed, her fairytale book resting open on the ground.
only then would he get back to his room and sleep (and sometimes even that didn’t work, and sleep never came).
and every time, they pretend not to notice.
(but susan squeezes his shoulder a bit tighter, a bit longer, on mornings after, edmund shifts a bit closer to him during afternoon councils, so that their shoulders bump, and lucy comes to read her book, snuggled against him, on evenings, right before falling asleep.)