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Erlin was used to his older sister being out of bed before him. What he wasn’t used to was being awake when that happened, or seeing her peering into his room from the doorway.
“Egwene?” He rubbed his eyes, half asleep, and gave her a confused look. “Is everything ok? Am I supposed to be awake right now?”
“Uh, no,” she mumbled sheepishly, backing away slightly. “I’m just…checking on you. Making sure you’re ok, or whatever-”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m just sleeping!” It came out sharper than he meant, and why was he getting mad at this? She was being nice to him. “Look, you don’t have to act like I’m about to break any second just because I-”
“Erlin, you were dead. In another plane of existence,” she snapped back.
“Ok, well yeah, when you say it out loud-”
“It makes sense? Like I usually do?” She smirked at him before her eyes softened. “Besides, I usually do this anyway. Ever since-”
Ever since their parents died. Since the ones who usually did this weren’t there anymore and they were suddenly growing up so fast they couldn’t seem to catch up. And sure, Nana checked on them. They were her responsibility now, and it’s not like she didn’t know how to raise kids. But Egwene didn’t trust much that she couldn’t see for herself anymore, and Erlin was slowly starting to realize that he felt the same way.
“Oh. I- I’m sorry, Egwene” He deflated just as quickly as he’d gotten mad, and he couldn’t quite meet her gaze. She really did almost lose him. Forever. And it’s not like he knew what was going on when it happened, but he could only imagine how lost he’d be if their roles had been reversed. They may get on each other’s nerves, but she’d always been a good big sister. Especially once their parents were gone and he didn’t quite realize how young she’d been, but now he was that age and he still felt like he barely knew anything.
(Maybe he’d never tell her that. Maybe he should. Maybe she already knew)
“It’s fine,” she muttered, leaning on the doorway. “If I woke up and you were just staring into my room I’d probably flip. More than that,” she grinned. “If you want to avoid this you could just get up earlier next time-”
“Nope!”
“Looks like you’re gonna have to keep dealing with me, then. She straightened up again and crossed her arms. “Alright, I’ll leave you alone now. Go get ready to take your stupid boyfriend out or whatever you two nerds are doing.”
“Oh, come on,” he said, rolling his eyes at her as he stood up. “You know you love him.”
“Whatever.” She turned away, and he tried not to laugh at how much the look on her face had given her away.
“I love you,” he said softly, and maybe on another day the way it made her freeze in her tracks would have been funny, but he couldn’t help but feel sad about it now.
“Love you too, Erlin.”
.
.
.
And after he’d managed to drag himself out of bed and made it through one too many rounds of pancakes before they got a good batch and got his obligatory “don’t do anything I would do” from his sister (As if. He was pretty sure he couldn’t take on the world like Egwene Kindleaf if he tried), he was off, making his way towards the woods where he knew Beverly was waiting.
“Erlin!” And then he was running, before he could even fully see where his boyfriend was, and his smile got bigger as he finally caught Bev’s eye and slowed down beside him.
“Dude! He laughed as he was pulled into a hug. “It’s…been too long. Somehow. Guess we got a little busy cleaning up the world, huh?” He smiled sheepishly. “I- I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Beverly said back, quieter and more seriously than he usually would, and gods, why was this happening twice in one day?
“Bev-”
“I know! I know, talking about it is weird. Just…I thought I was gonna lose you, too. And I’m really glad that I didn’t.”
“I know.” And he did. He’d seen the panic that he was sure hadn’t been meant for his eyes and the folded letter that Beverly was just a little too quick to shove aside when he and Mrs. Toegold had walked into the room, the way that everyone’s hugs lasted just a little bit longer now and their eyes lit up just to see each other again.
He had the nightmares, too.
“I know, Bev. I was scared too, man. Even after I came back, I- I was scared I was gonna have to watch you go down next. Or that we’d make it home and Egwene would be-”
“Hey. Hey, come here,” Beverly said softly, putting an arm around Erlin’s shoulders. “It’s ok. We made it. Besides,” he grinned with a familiar sparkle in his eyes. “Egwene was always gonna be fine. She’s so cool.”
“Eh-”
“Erlin!”
“I’m kidding!” He laughed and shook his head. “She is, though. Do you think she knows? That that’s how I feel?”
“You could always just, like, tell her,” Beverly offered, laughing as Erlin immediately looked indignant and then resigned before nodding in agreement. “And hey, you’re pretty cool too, you know.”
“Oh,” Erlin responded quietly, hoping that the heat that was suddenly flooding his face wasn’t that noticeable. Like they hadn’t done a million more actually embarrassing things in front of each other at this point.
“I mean it, Erlin. You got so much stronger while we were off on our own adventures.”
“It’s not a big deal,” he shrugged. “I like being the healer.”
“Not a big deal?!? Without healing spells, I don’t think that any of us would have made it back.”
“Ok, fine,” Erlin relented. “But that wasn’t just me.”
“Well, then we make a good team,” Beverly grinned back at him. “We’re all pretty cool, how about that?”
“Sounds good to me,” Erlin laughed. “Ugh, I’m sorry. We were supposed to have fun today, and then I had to go and make it all sad-”
“No, hey, come on. I’d rather we talk about this. And besides, it’s not too late to still have fun,” Beverly said with a smile, pulling him in for a kiss.
And Erlin was all too happy to oblige on that one.