Title: Banned From Driving…Why?
Author: KanraToshi
Series: The Chronicles of Narnia
Pairing: None (Gasp XD)
Rating: PG-13 (Because of Edmund's driving)
Summary: Edmund desperately needs help with his driving, and who else is worthy enough other than his supportive, helping older brother?
Disclaimer: I had the most vivid and life-threatening dream last night, which was motivation to write this. In my dream, my boyfriend was behind the wheel and he drove…well…you'll see…
~o0o~
It started off as a normal day at the Pevensies house. It was one of those bright sunny days, where you just wanted to waste your afternoon – lounging in the sun…which was exactly what Peter was doing at the moment.
Susan was upstairs, no doubt trying on make-up and the latest hair-do in her room while Lucy was raiding the kitchen for a snack.
Edmund took advantage of the quiet afternoon to slowly approach Peter. He had a particular problem that he thought Peter would be the perfect answer to.
So when Peter got up from the deck chair and walked back inside to the kitchen, sunglasses still on his face, Edmund followed him, just in time to hear him tell Lucy, "Stop messing up the kitchen Lu." And pushed her gently away from the refrigerator door and handed her a lollipop from a nearby cabinet instead.
Calm, gentle, yet commanding. Peter was certainly a good choice, Edmund thought.
"Pete?" Peter looked up from where he was receiving a huge bear hug from Lucy in payment of her sweet.
"Yeah Ed?" Peter replied.
Edmund took a deep breath.
"What's wrong Ed?" Peter asked concerned. If he didn't know better, he'd say Edmund looked almost sick.
"I need help with something." Edmund said instead.
"Really?" Peter asked, disbelieving. Inner Peter was jumping for joy. Edmund, stubborn Edmund, actually asking him for help? Not Susan, but him? His inner self cheered.
Peter coughed and tried to stay calm. "With what?"
Edmund looked away, embarrassed. "I need help with my driving." he admitted shyly. "And I thought you'd be perfect to teach me."
Inner Peter was now passed out from joy. Him – perfect to teach Edmund?
"Sure." Peter agreed at once. "I'll be glad to help. When?"
"I was thinking now." Edmund confessed.
Peter smiled. "Sure." He repeated. "Just let me grab Mom's keys. Lu, you wanna come?"
Lucy, who was busy sucking on her lollipop, grinned and nodded.
~o0o~
They were seated in the car, with Lucy in the back. Just when Peter was going to hand the keys over to Edmund, a familiar figure approached them.
"Hey Caspian!" Peter lowered the windows to talk to their neighbor. It looked like Caspian was just done running.
Caspian smiled. "What's up?" he asked, wiping his sweaty face with his shirt.
"Going to help Edmund with his driving." Peter stated proudly.
"Wanna come?" Lucy poked her head into view.
Caspian stepped a few steps backwards quickly and muttered, "Running – gotta run" and in a few moments, disappeared from view.
Peter glanced worriedly after him. "What was all that about?" he wondered out loud.
Edmund sighed. "I tried getting Caspian's help last time. It didn't end up so well."
Peter nodded thoughtfully. Caspian was probably barking orders from his seat and made Edmund tense.
"Ready then?" he asked Edmund, who nodded nervously.
Peter handed him the keys. "It'll be fine." he reassured. "Let's try for that nearby ice cream place."
"Now, just gently – "
His next words were lost in his throat as the car tore from the driveway at a neck-breaking speed and onto the road.
Lucy yelped from the backseat as she tumbled and landed on the seat.
"Seatbelts!" Peter managed to scream. He lunged over toward Edmund and managed to strap his brother in.
Just as he was about to strap himself in, the car made a sharp turn and his head slammed into the window.
He could hear Lucy cursing at the seatbelt.
"Ed! Slow down!" Peter said, finally buckling himself in and looking at the speedometer.
180K? What the fuck?
Edmund let out a loud laugh. "This is fun!" he shouted as his hands made the steering wheel veer left suddenly.
"Are you insane?" Lucy shouted from the back, abandoning her lollipop in case she choked herself.
"Stop the car!" she yelled, but Edmund ignored her.
"Edmund!" Peter tried to grab the wheel but Edmund had a death grip on it and he growled, yes, actually growled at Peter when he tried to make a move to touch the wheel.
Peter looked up in time to see Edmund driving (was it even considered driving anymore?) straight toward a couple of buildings.
"OH MY GOD!" Peter shouted. "Ed, Ed, turn the car!"
"We can't die!" Lucy shouted from the back, covering her eyes. "I haven't even gone to college yet!"
Edmund made a sharp turn just in time, avoiding the building.
Lucy finally took her hands away to look. "We made it?" she asked disbelievingly.
"Edmund! Step on it!" Peter screamed. "Step on the br– "
"OKAY!" Edmund made the car go even faster.
"Oh my god, we're gonna die, we're gonna die…" Lucy chanted from the backseat, hands going over her eyes again.
"I meant step on the brakes!" Peter shouted over Lucy's piercing screams. "Ed! Left! LEFT!"
Edmund turned right instead, straight toward a crowded street, with a crazed grin on his face.
"This is a one-way lane!" Peter cried, watching in horror as cars swerved out of the way to avoid a head-on collision with them, horns honking wildly.
"Fine," Edmund pouted, but dutifully made a sharp U-turn, flinging Lucy and Peter against their seatbelts.
"How did you even manage to survive that?" Peter stared while trying not to choke on his seatbelt.
"Whee!" And Edmund was off again, zooming the car down the quickly deserting street.
Where was the police when you needed them? Peter wondered at the back of his mind when he heard a loud "SMACK" from the back.
He looked back to find Lucy with her face against the window. "Owww," she moaned, "That hurt."
Edmund chose that moment to let out an explosive laugh that had peter clutching at his seat for safety and had his eyes back on the road instead of on his sister, still moaning in pain.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a truck passed them and Edmund let out a whoop.
"He's trying to pass us!" he yelled and took one hand off the wheel to point and yell, "We can't be beaten!" out the open window.
Edmund urged the car on faster.
"No!" Peter decided to risk the chances and grabbed onto the wheel and made it swerve into the next lane.
"You want some of this?" Edmund was shouting, his head out the window, yelling to the truck driver.
"Ed, get back in here!" Peter shrieked. He took a deep breath and mutter a prayer under his breath as he took off his seatbelt to lean across the car to drag Edmund's head back in.
There was another swerve, a bump, and Peter went flying before he had time to strap himself back in.
"Stop! Stop!" he pleaded.
"Ed!' Lucy's voice shouted out in alarm. "Red light!"
Instead of stopping, Edmund continued at full speed.
"We can make it!" he cried.
"Stop, STOP! Brakes! Use the brakes!" Peter's eyes went wide as he saw the stoplight flash from yellow to red.
"STOP!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
~o0o~
He felt nothing. Slowly, Peter opened his eyes and saw that they were still speeding down the road, red light way behind them. He quickly pulled the seatbelt and strapped himself in.
Just in time too, as Edmund slammed down on the accelerator and the car went even faster.
Lucy was in between crying and hysterical laughter. Edmund still had his crazed smile on his lips.
Peter faced the front and closed his eyes.
Mom, Dad, Susan, he thought. I love you guys. Mom – sorry I couldn't help you out more. Susan – I know you always wanted that en-suite bathroom I have. Caspian – I'll haunt you forever after this.
Lucy was having her own moment in the backseat. "I can't die!" she repeated. "I didn't give Mom her birthday present yet! I didn't check my email this morning! Susan still owes me that manicure!"
Edmund let out another holler and Peter opened his eyes to see them overtake the truck.
"Ed! Don't' compete with them! Are you trying to kill us?"
"We won't die silly." Edmund said seriously, looking at Peter with a goofy, innocent smile.
"Eyes on the road!" Peter shouted in return, and Edmund looked back just in time to avoid a crash with a black SUV.
Lucy let out a moan from the backseat. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."
"Oh no," Peter cried, panicking and searching, his eyes darting around to find something for Lucy to use as a bag.
Before he could grab anything though, Edmund did the unthinkable. He turned the steering wheel around a few times and then let it go.
Peter swore he say his life flash before him as the car skidded around in circles.
Lucy was whimpering in the backseat, trying to hold back the urge to vomit.
~o0o~
Finally, the car stopped spinning and Lucy was out the door in a flash, retching over on the ground.
Peter was groaning and holding his pounding head, and Edmund leaned back into the driver's seat, looking proud.
"What happened?" Peter asked, his head still pounding. He was going to have such a headache.
"We're here." Edmund said, gesturing to the ice cream shop's sign. "You said ice cream store right?"
Peter unlocked his door and stumbled out and started to dance a bit.
He wasn't dead! He wasn't in a middle of an accident, bleeding to death. HE WAS ALIVE!
Lucy finally looked up, wiping her mouth. "Ugh, Ed," she muttered. "We are never, EVER, letting you drive again."
"What? WHY?" Edmund protested loudly.
Peter tried to calm his brother down. "Because….your excitement is too much…" he tried explaining, hoping Edmund would buy that excuse.
Edmund whined.
"And I'm gonna kill Caspian for not warning us!" Lucy snapped and stamped her foot childishly.
"He probably thinks we died." Peter joked and chuckled faintly.
Edmund looked at his siblings, who looked like they were slowly recovering. "Wanna try driving again tomorrow?" he asked Peter.
He was answered with a groan and a hand that snatched the keys right out of his own.
"HEY!" he pouted and sulked.
"I'm driving on the way back." Peter retorted.
~o0o~
A/N: Well, that's basically what happened in my dreams…except:
1) There was no one in the backseat. I was in Peter's perspective with Edmund's crazy driving being my boyfriend's.
2) There wasn't an ice cream shop….
3) In my dreams, I don't think I survived. The last thing I remember before waking up gasping for air was we crashed (I don't know into what) and a suffocating feeling.
Yeah, I don't think I wanna go driving with him anytime soon :'(