If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.
Epictetus


Corin clenched his fists, and then made a conscious effort to clench them. He could do this. He'd faced centaurs, fawns, and even the wrath of Queen Lucy. One simple talk couldn't compare to the tongue lashing she'd given him, surely?

He took one last deep breath, trying to calm himself, before entering King Edmund's study.

The room was cluttered with books, papers and ink. It emitted a musty, pleasant aroma, glue, parchment, and something indefinable that seemed to invade every nook and cranny in Narnia: particularly the castle.

Corin muffled a startled yelp as King Edmund appeared suddenly from the behind one of the countless bookshelves.

King Edmund made no sign that he'd heard Corin's shocked hastily stifled exclamation, so Corin quickly smoothed his face back into a blank expression, purging all remnants of shock from his face.

"So," the Just King began imperiously. The intimidating effect he was going for was rather ruined when one of the precariously-balanced book stacks toppled down.

Edmund coughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Corin stifled a smile. The smile was wiped straight off his face at Edmund's question:

"What happened yesterday?"

"I- I apologize, King Edmund, I should have asked your leave before exiting." Edmund raised an eyebrow at Corin's formality.

"That's not what I meant."

Corin nodded, looking downward. Here came the embarrassing part. "Iwaswonderingifyoucouldteachmehowgetsomeonetolove me."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Imeanitdoesn'tevenhavetobelove," Corin babbled, only to be cut off.

"Corin," Edmund instructed, "Breathe, then talk. With pauses in between words, please."

"I was wondering if you could teach me how to obtainsomeone'slove."

"Teach you how to obtain someone's love? Whatever for? And what does that have to do with my previous question?"

Corin blushed bright red. "Y-you know how you were telling me how to tell if someone loves you?"

Edmund nodded encouragingly.

"Well, I realized, actually I'd figured it out before, but I knew then, because of what you'd told me." Corin paused, bit his lip, and continued; "Cor doesn't love me, but I figured you and King Peter are so close, you could maybe, please teach me how to get him to love me? I mean, not that you got King Peter to love you, obviously he always loved you, but-"

"Wait, hold on- back up. You said you knew Cor doesn't love you, because of something I said?"

Corin nodded, eyes still downcast.

"Corin, you realize different people express love differently? What I told you were based on what I've experienced. Cor's more reserved-"

"And I should be patient, I know!" Corin burst out impatiently. "I've had this talk with Father."

Edmund opened his mouth to explain to Corin that he likely didn't understand, but all his reassurances melted at the look on Corin's face. He looked heartbroken, and resigned, and an odd, strained smile played at the corners of his mouth, assuring Ed that he did understand.

When Corin began speaking again, he was almost inaudible, a stark contrast to his previous volume. "I-it's just that I've tried everything! I tried going horse riding with him, tried learning to draw, I even begged Father to get me a horse just so we'd have something to talk about, but he doesn't even look at me!"

Tears stung his eyes, and he rubbed roughly at them, embarrassed at the show of weakness. Edmund stayed silent, so he kept going. "He talks to me, but only when I talk to him, he's never started a conversation with me! I could understand if he was just shy, but he talks to everyone but me. He doesn't even like me."

He paused, tears streaking down his cheeks. He wiped at them angrily, realized now how hopeless the situation was, and made to leave the room.

"I apologize for wasting your time, King Edmund." He let out a mirthless laugh. "I suppose nothing can be done."

Edmund opened his mouth to say something, but stopped at the look of horror dawning on Corin's face.

Cor stood in the doorway, tears ran down his cheeks as well, unlike his twin, he made no move to wipe them away.

"Is that what you think? That I don't love you?"

Corin didn't respond, darting behind his twin towards the door. The door closed behind him with an audible thud. He raced down the hallway, dodging startled scullery maids, ladies-in-waiting, and irritable burly guards. Just as he made his way through the secret passageway in the kitchen, he heard a voice, breathlessly apologizing to a guard. Cor.

Corin ran through the passage, about halfway out when he heard the door open with a creak, and the thudding of feet hitting the stone floor. Who-

Corin nearly smacked his forehead when he realized he'd inadvertently revealed this shortcut to Cor, in one of his desperate bids to make his twin talk to him. He hadn't realized his brother was listening. If he'd actually been listening… Corin clenched his fist when he realized that he'd revealed most of his shortcuts in that one-sided conversation. His only option was to lock himself into the bedroom.

He internally calculated his distance from the bedroom. He would be approaching the door right about…now!

He squinted in the harsh sunlight streaming from the windows, as he bolted past the passage way's door; he closed it with a thump.

That would hopefully by him enough time to—

Somewhere behind him, he heard the squeak of the abused door's hinges, and then a bang as it was once again slammed into the wall.

-escape.

He made it to the bedroom before being tackled to the ground by his exuberant twin.

"W-what are you doing, idiot?" Corin sputtered indignantly, squirming under Cor's tight hold.

Cor buried his face into his brother's chest, still panting breathlessly from their chase. "Did you mean it? About thinking I don't love you?"

"I don't think that, I know it."

"'m sorry" he mumbled into Corin's shirt.

Corin sighed, and ran his fingers through the blond hair lying atop his chest. This was why he'd run from his brother, why he'd so desperately tried to hide his unhappiness. "Don't be."

"I do love you," Corin shook his head.

"You're feeling guilty, Cor. You don't have to lie to me."

Cor sat up at this, hurt and guilt mingling on his face. "You think I'd lie about something like that?"

Corin hastily amended his statement. "No, you're right. You're telling me what I want to hear."

"No! Why-why would you think that?"

"Because you've given me no reason to think otherwise." The minute Corin said this; he felt the need to clap a hand over his mouth. "Cor, I didn't mean it like-"

"Yes, you did. And you're right. I haven't been the best brother, but I want to-would you let me explain?" Cor looked hopefully at his younger brother, pleading with his eyes.

"Alright," Corin relented. "But..." he pulled himself up from under his brother, and guided them both onto the bed.

Cor smiled at him, and then proceeded to flop down on top of him, in an almost perfect mimicry of their earlier position.

Corin groaned as he was nearly squashed flat. "A little warning next time, please?"

Cor's smile held a hint of nervousness now. "You alright?"

"A bit late to be asking that, don't you think?" Corin complained. He began raking through his brother's hair again in silent apology when Cor's face fell.

"I told you about how I lived in Calormen, you remember?"

Corin nodded, a hand reaching to squeeze his brother's tightly. Cor smiled faintly and continued.

"I left out a lot. I ran away because the man who'd raised me, the man I'd thought was my father, had agreed to sell me into slavery."

Corin inhaled sharply, hands tightening on his brothers'. Cor paused again, and grinned at his brother.

"Don't." It's a plea more than it is a command.

Cor let the fake smile slip off his face. "That's part of the reason why. I can't lie to you. In Calormen, pretending was an essential survival trait. No one's ever been able to tell the difference between my fakes smiles and my real ones."

Corin closed his eyes, feeling his brother's hurt as acutely as though it was his own.

"I didn't actively try to avoid you, I suppose I was doing it subconsciously. It's just hard."

Corin looked up at his twin curiously. "What is?"

"This. Everything."

Corin tried to withdraw his hands at these words, trying to hide the hurt. Cor tightened his grasp.

"He used to hit me, you know?" The bland, matter of fact tone Cor used, combined with his words, nearly caused Corin to topple off the bed with shock.

"I'll kill him." There is no small amount of rage in Corin's snarl.

Cor furrowed his brow. "It wasn't often, just when he was drunk."

"Still, he hurt you!"

"This is the part that scares me."

Corin rewound their conversation mentally. "Which part?"

"This." Cor squeezed their joined hands. "Just caring about someone so much. I never thought I would. And, I never thought someone would care about me, never thought someone could get angry at the thought of someone hurting me."

"Well, I do. So get used to it."

Cor hesitated. "But, how do you know you'll keep caring? What if you wake up one day and realize you don't want me in your life anymore?"

"I will. Always. This isn't some stupid romance novel, Cor. I'm always going to love you. I swear."

Cor looked tentatively hopeful. Corin froze, just then realizing something. "Wait, is this why you were avoiding me? Because you thought I'd get tired of you?"

Cor turned bright red, confirming the statement. Corin huffed, "I'm doing chores for a month to earn that stupid horse that I didn't even want!"

Cor snickered. "I don't know, you seemed pretty enthusiastic about it. Until it threw you off, for, what was it… the fifth time or the sixth?"

Corin raised a pillow threateningly. "That's it!"

Cor dodged, and the pillow flew off course, veering towards the door, which opened at the exact moment the pillow landed…. Straight into King Edmund's startled face.

Both brother immediately pointed at each other, and proclaimed in unison: "he did it!" Then they both took off as King Edmund spat a mouthful of feathers and aimed.

The rest, as they say, is history.


AN: I don't think I got enough emotion in this chapter... Oh well, next is Cor's POV...