Disclaimer: I don't own a single bloody thing. There's a few I'd like to, but, ah, you know.

Another shortie. But I'm rather proud of it. :) This is for SubOrbital, my girlie.

He was a King once, you know.

But now he's just a boy. With hair that won't stay down, jumpers that don't fit quite right, and feet that are growing too fast for his shoes.

He stumbles a lot, and knocks things over all the time. Mum brushes it off as him growing, 'going through that stage', but I know better. I know he still thinks that he's taller, that he's stronger, bigger, older. It's not because his feet are too big; it's because they're too small.

He doesn't quite know what to do with his spare time, now. It used to be he never had any spare time; there was always something that needed his attention. But now he's just a kid, and expected to play and make messes, or just lay around the house. I watch him, and I see him scratching at his palms, like they're itching to be doing something. The best he can come up with is to take Lucy out to the park. (But she's having issues of her own, and I don't think it does much for either of them.) He walks around with his hands in his pockets, in his too-small coat, and stares at the trees. One day, Lucy asked him if there were any dryads in the trees in England. It took him a while to answer, but when he did, even I believed him.

"You know, Lu, I bet there were. But I think they're just gone now."

"Do you think they'll come back?"

Peter looked around, at the buildings that encased the park, and the smoke from the train stations, and didn't answer.

He thinks he's just a boy, now. Just another name on the class roster, a perfect little nobody who gets beat-up for being teacher's pet. But when I see him, the sun is at his back and it lights up his hair and skin as though he's an angel fallen to the earth. When I see my brother, he still has that fire behind his eyes and that shoulder-back, chin-up stance, and I know: he's still a King.

I know, because I've seen him. I've seen him fight sword and shield, and face the most fearsome of enemies. I've seen him fight with nothing but his fists against the biggest bullies. I've seen him lead an entire country to prosperity and happiness, and I've seen him lead his team to victory in a rugby match in P.E. I've watched him pick up fallen comrades after horrendous battles, and I've watched him pick up Lucy after she's fallen and skinned her knee.

Here in England, he's just Peter Pevensie.

But he'll always be a King to me.