₁.₀ YES TO HEAVEN; peter pevensie ✔

002.

The weather is quick to return to its usual state.

After that dreadfully boring game Susan had come up with, Peter was hoping playing hide and seek would prove to be more entertaining. Anything would be better than having to guess the meaning of Latin words with his sister looking at him as though she was talking to an idiot each time he got it wrong... That's why he needed next to none convincing to start counting with his eyes shut the moment Lucy suggested it.

Now, however, Peter isn't so sure it was a good decision.

Being led upstairs in the Professor's old house, Lucy's fingers entwined with his own, he feels rather thorn. He doesn't want his little sister to think that her words are being met with disdain on his side. Peter would hate to hurt her feelings - her childhood memories will be stained with war already, he doesn't need to add into that with his... skepticism.

He can't help the way he feels, though. For a moment, after Lucy came running, shouting something about being back, Peter though she was joking. Honestly, he expected her to smile mischievously, eyes sparkling, and giggle. To reveal that it was all just her cute attempt to cheer her older siblings up on such a gloomy day. Something they could all play along with in good spirit, knowing that it is nothing more than a play pretend.

As much as he doesn't wish to call Lucy a liar and crush her feelings, Peter simply cannot honestly say that he believes her. After all, she wasn't gone for hours, he would have noticed, of that much he is sure. Perhaps she dozed off for a moment while being hidden inside that wardrobe and dreamt all of this?

There's no way her tale can have anything to do with the truth, rationally speaking, he just doesn't know how to communicate that to his obviously excited sweet sister.

As Lucy pulls him through the door and they watch Susan and Edmund walk over to the wardrobe, Peter knows what is about to happen, of course. Still, he's not sure whether it's relief that he feels when their siblings find nothing out of usual - there's some small part of him, deep inside, that is somehow disappointed. Especially when he takes notice of the look on Lucy's face.

She really was convinced she'd been to a strange land.

"One game at a time, Lu," Peter says. He tries to make his voice as gentle as possible, to minimise the possibility of upsetting her even more. He begins to turn away, feeling as though he was in some way betraying her. "We don't all have your imagination."

"But I wasn't imagining!"

"That's enough, Lucy," Susan cuts in. Her tone is stern, perhaps a little too much, and Peter is torn between the urge to protect his youngest sibling and relief from having someone else take over the task of handling the situation in a way he himself cannot.

But Lucy isn't ready to give up just yet. "I wouldn't lie about this!" she says urgently.

"Well, I believe you."

Surprised, Peter focuses his gaze on his brother, the dark haired boy stepping forward towards Lucy. He can't help but worry, some anxious feeling creeping up the line of his spine as he watches his sister's expression change.

Nothing good will come out of Edmund's words, that much he knows. Not with how the boy's been acting lately.

And Peter despises himself for having so little trust in Edmund, yet there's nothing he can do to convince himself otherwise.

Lucy's eyes pierce into the boy's own, hope battling confusion displayed clearly all over her features. "You do?"

"Of course. Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboards?"