SORRY, I JUST HAVE THIS PROBLEM WITH IMPROBABLE CROSSOVER SHIPPING. it's a conditionnnnnn.
edmund isn't peter and susan is very aware of it. she knows edmund is very aware of it too, the way he's taken on being on edge and overprotective of her and lucy. it's not like anyone asked him to be. then again, it's not like anyone asked peter to be either.
well, susan thinks, whatever, let edmund be whatever he wants to be, because she can't be assed these days and lucy, being the youngest, has never taken to mothering the way her siblings have. lucy works from the sides, from below. they forgive edmund his pretensions because they know he will outgrow them, because, with the kind of life they lead, you quickly outgrow the things you don't need. edmund will find whatever it is that he does out of the umbrage of peter's shadow, and he will do it well. he will have to. (and maybe that's the thing. they are all out of peter's shadow now, and the sun is blindingly bright, burns the skin.)
edmund is better with money than peter, and at talking to the shmucks they con. they like his goofy grin and his quiet manner; he inspires simultaneously feelings of respect and a strange desire to tousle his hair. he knows he's sometimes gawky and he plays this to his advantage. edmund's grifts are not peter's grifts, but they work. his body is not peter's body and he doesn't fuck her the way peter fucks her, but he is still her brother and susan loves him all the same.
+
"she's been like that since peter went to jail," edmund says.
"she's been like that since before peter went to jail," lucy points out. "though that made it worse."
"so, since idaho?"
"i think before idaho."
they don't know that she can hear them from the bathroom. susan dries her hair and stares at her reflection in the mirror, wondering, when did it start?
"she's beginning to slip a little at her work," edmund muses.
"yeah," lucy replies, "but she always pulls through in the end."
"maybe next time she won't."
susan thinks maybe the more important question is, when will it end?
1/2
edmund isn't peter and susan is very aware of it. she knows edmund is very aware of it too, the way he's taken on being on edge and overprotective of her and lucy. it's not like anyone asked him to be. then again, it's not like anyone asked peter to be either.
well, susan thinks, whatever, let edmund be whatever he wants to be, because she can't be assed these days and lucy, being the youngest, has never taken to mothering the way her siblings have. lucy works from the sides, from below. they forgive edmund his pretensions because they know he will outgrow them, because, with the kind of life they lead, you quickly outgrow the things you don't need. edmund will find whatever it is that he does out of the umbrage of peter's shadow, and he will do it well. he will have to. (and maybe that's the thing. they are all out of peter's shadow now, and the sun is blindingly bright, burns the skin.)
edmund is better with money than peter, and at talking to the shmucks they con. they like his goofy grin and his quiet manner; he inspires simultaneously feelings of respect and a strange desire to tousle his hair. he knows he's sometimes gawky and he plays this to his advantage. edmund's grifts are not peter's grifts, but they work. his body is not peter's body and he doesn't fuck her the way peter fucks her, but he is still her brother and susan loves him all the same.
+
"she's been like that since peter went to jail," edmund says.
"she's been like that since before peter went to jail," lucy points out. "though that made it worse."
"so, since idaho?"
"i think before idaho."
they don't know that she can hear them from the bathroom. susan dries her hair and stares at her reflection in the mirror, wondering, when did it start?
"she's beginning to slip a little at her work," edmund muses.
"yeah," lucy replies, "but she always pulls through in the end."
"maybe next time she won't."
susan thinks maybe the more important question is, when will it end?
+