Forever Neverland (Peter Pan x James Hook)

Chapter 21

It was already afternoon when James finally ventured out of his relatively warm cabin to admire the sparkling landscape of the frozen ocean that stretched out as far as the eye could see. Pan had been gone for a long time. Every time Pan was gone, Neverland fell into some kind of 'sleep', during which nothing at all happened and all its inhabitants simply waited around for him to return, because they appeared unable to function without their crownless king around.
Sadly, it was the same for Hook, who suddenly wondered what would happen should Pan die on one of his Earth trips, or simply decide never to come back; what would become of Neverland if he left?
Would it remain frozen until all life slowly ceased to exist?
James had never thought about it because Pan's return had always been as certain as the sun; the boy was predictable and every day in Neverland had pretty much been like the day before, but lately that had changed, and Pan usually never stayed away as long as he did now. Had something happened to him? Was he hurt? Dead?

James wished he could smack himself; what was wrong with him? It was Pan, for heaven's sakes! He didn't get hurt and he didn't die - James had tried to induce said state in the flying rodent more times than he could count, without success, so the chances of someone else achieving it were rather slim.
Sadly, these were only his logical thoughts; his illogical ones were driving him mad with worry, and confirming what he was still unsuccessfully trying to deny: he cared about Pan.
As if lusting after him hadn't been bad enough, now he actually cared about him as a person.

"Bloody brilliant," James muttered under his breath.

"What is?" Pan suddenly popped up out of nowhere, nearly scaring James to death who drew his sword in reflex.

Pan immediately flew a few feet away from the ship's railing, out of James' reach, and gave him a skeptical look. "Are we going to fight?" he asked surprised, though by the time he finished his sentence James had already lowered his weapon again.

"No, you just startled me. Don't do that," James snapped in annoyance, though his annoyance was more directed at his earlier feelings rather than Pan startling him.

"It's not my fault you're so jumpy." Pan grinned, sticking his tongue out playfully.

In the background, the weather began changing just as radically as it did every time, with summer approaching so fast that James was starting to sweat under the thick coat he had put on earlier.

"Found any new toys on Earth?" James asked sourly as he began removing his jacket.

"I wasn't looking for any..." Pan said slowly.

"Then what the hell were you doing?" James snapped; his annoyance at not knowing where Pan had been surprised him almost as much as it seemed to surprise Pan.

"I found out why you are unhappy here," Pan informed him slowly, letting his eyes travel up and down James' body, who suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable under the penetrating stare.

"Really. And why would that be?" Whatever Pan had found out, it had to be wrong, James was sure of it; there wasn't one big reason as to why he was unhappy here - it was everything.

~*~

Peter didn't know how to explain it in words, but since Hook had removed part of his clothes, obviously he was in the mood for... whatever it was that they did when they were undressed; which was perfect because that was also what Peter wanted right now. Now that he finally knew how to do it right.

With a few determined strides after landing on deck, Peter reached the surprised pirate Captain, whom he actually wanted to kiss but decided against it given the adults on Earth didn't seem to do that either, instead pushing him roughly against the staircase leading up to the bridge. Though Hook appeared more surprised than before, he didn't object the treatment that seemed somewhat cold and impersonal to Peter; what was wrong with adults? This wasn't at all the way Peter would like things to go, but if this is what it would take to make Hook stay, he could live with it.