Forever Neverland (Peter Pan x James Hook)

Chapter 22

Just like every morning for the past week or so, James awoke to a dreary, rainy morning that informed him Pan was still drowning Neverland in his misery. It had been nearly a week since their last encounter, after which it hadn't stopped raining even for an hour. Every once in a while, the sky seemed to brighten just a tiny bit - upon which it only drizzled - but after a short period of time it turned dark and cloudy again, pouring down so hard it was difficult for James to get even his daily things done, like cooking or cleaning, because even the short distance between his cabin and the kitchen was enough for him to get soaked to his skin.
The weather was so bad it almost made him want to reconcile with Pan just so it would stop raining, but he knew what would happen if he did: nothing. Everything would go back to exactly the way it had been before, and James was so tired of playing that ridiculous game; even if it was the only interesting thing going on in his life, which was why he had nearly gone mad with boredom in the past few days, but what would happen if he confronted Pan again? Would things be different?
The fact that Pan was still hung up on that after such a long time, was astounding to James, because Pan was known for having the attention span of a goldfish, so perhaps it really did mean something?

All those were thoughts that had been running through James' mind over and over, but every time he wanted to go see the brat, he decided against it in the last moment because... Why exactly? He didn't know, but something kept him from rowing over to the island to search for the monstrous mongrel.
Somewhere in the labyrinth of his chaotic feelings, he sometimes spotted the hope that maybe things would work out with Pan if he tried to explain things to the boy and gave him a chance, but he always pushed it aside before fully analyzing it, because no matter how ridiculous it was, he wanted to be angry at Pan. He wanted to punish him for all the horrible things James had had to endure over the past however-long-he-had-been-there, despite the situation being just as bad for him as it was for Pan, possibly worse, given he was terrified it might ruin any chance of ever leaving Neverland.
But what if - if he reconciled with Pan - he wouldn't want to leave anymore...? James really wanted to want to leave, because that was what he had wanted for so long, but what if - if he reconciled with Pan - he actually became happy here? What if he really ended up falling for that imbecilic imp?
Alright, so he was already sort of fallen for him, but that didn't count because it was only due to the fact that there was no one else around and Pan kept pushing it, so it's not like he was actually truly in love, right? No, of course not, it was just an infatuation due to his many years of loneliness.
Years that wouldn't get any better if he didn't do something; as ever, James had no idea what, but something. Also because this weather was unbearable and he was running out of food.

James nodded firmly at himself; yes, the reason he was going to talk to Pan was because he needed food and it was practically unobtainable in this weather, and not because he actually wanted to reconcile with him. So really, it had nothing to do with whatever was going on between them, and it certainly wasn't because he missed him; that was simply ridiculous.

~*~

Peter stared emptily up at the root ceiling of his hideout underneath the large tree, trying to ignore Tinkerbell who munched loudly on a berry next to his ear. He hadn't eaten much lately due to lack of appetite, so Tink had taken upon herself to try and convince him to eat something, but he rarely accepted her little snacks, no matter how loudly she ate them right next to his ear in an attempt to rouse his appetite.
Even a few Indians - especially Tiger Lily - had dropped by a few times with food and such for him, but he had always told them to leave it by the door because he didn't want to see anyone. He had never felt this miserable in all his life, and had no idea how to get out of it. Under normal circumstances, his mood lifted very quickly because there were few things that truly affected him, but this time it was different; not just because he was so hurt at how Hook had treated him, but also because he was angry and disappointed - feelings that he was still trying to get used to. And to top that off, he was confused because Hook had called him an evil monster - wasn't Hook supposed to be the monster though? Hook was a pirate; an evil, mean, nasty, scoundrel, wasn't he?
Alright, so Peter had long learned there was a lot more to him than that, but the fact that someone like him called Peter violent and merciless, was outrageous! Peter had never hurt anyone!