Forever Neverland (Peter Pan x James Hook)

Chapter 14

It had taken the fairies almost the entire day to remove all the weeds, flowers and leaves from the ship, but by the time the sun finally began to set, the ship was finally clear, at which point James dared to venture out onto deck again. He had had half a mind of kidnapping one of the yapping flutters to get his hands on some of their dust, but eventually decided against it because it might damage the delicate 'friendship' that had built up between him and Pan, and now that he wasn't actually trying to kill the stripling anymore but instead go home, the ability to fly wouldn't help him either because he would never find his way through the universe.
And chances were he wouldn't be able to remain flying anyway because apparently he didn't have enough happy thoughts, so it made no difference in the end.

The deck looked just the way it should – except maybe a tad bit cleaner than usual – with everything in its place. Or at least that's what he thought until he turned around and his eyes fell on the back deck above his cabin.

"Pan," he groaned under his breath, making his way up the wooden stairs.

"Good evening Captain Hook," Pan greeted politely, nearly making James laugh. "O-or should I call you Ja-"

"No!" James cut him off loudly. "I can't do this twice in one day!" he complained in exasperation.

"Do what?" the boy asked confused.

James sighed. "This. You. What do you want now?"

Pan looked back and forth between James and the large cloth spread on the deck that was covered in all sorts of delicious looking dishes, fruits and wine. James hadn't eaten much all day because he'd been hiding in his cabin, so he was actually starving and looking at all the food nearly made him drool.

"I thought you might be hungry and perhaps wished to dine with me under the moonlight."

James burst out laughing before the boy was even done with his sentence. "What?" he asked between laughter. "What the hell are you doing, Pan?" Though he'd been so annoyed a second ago, right now he was just amused; what had gotten into this child?

"I...but... I thought..." Pan mumbled awkwardly. James almost felt sorry for him because he looked so confused and uncertain. It was a sight to behold – the arrogant snotnose was fidgeting around so nervously it was almost cute.

"You thought what?" James asked a lot harsher than intended.

"Um... I don't know," Pan mumbled, looking around as if trying to find words for what the heck had been going through his head by doing all this nonsense. "Isn't this... romantic?"

James barked another laugh. "Romantic? You don't even know what that is, kid." Though actually, perhaps it really could be considered romantic, he realized a moment later as he let his eyes travel over the countless candles in fancy candelabra that gave the deck a warm, cozy glow... Wait. Were those his candelabra?! Had that treacherous little rodent seriously stolen his candleholders?!
Well, technically seen he hadn't stolen them because they were still on his ship, but still.

"Then what is it?" Pan asked intrigued, his eyes finally lighting up a bit as he lifted his head more.

Naturally, James had no clue either what romance really was – probably something like this – but he didn't want to associate Pan with it because that was just weird and wrong. And a little bit funny. But mostly wrong. "It doesn't matter anyway." 'Smooth save, James,' he thought drily; but what else could he really say?

Since Pan just looked a bit sad and lost, and James was starving, he sat down with a sigh. "Whatever. So let's eat something then."

~*~