Tinkerbell sat on the floor of her nook inside Peter’s room in the Hangman’s Tree, swinging her legs off the ledge of her door opening and fiddling with one of her, undoubtedly broken, tools she found under Slightly’s pillow. Peter had better start showing those boys about respect, she thought with a jingling huff. The pixie slowly let her eyes tear away from her hammer and roam across the room in front of her. Those boys… no… her boys. Tink smiled softly to herself. She’d missed her rowdy hooligan boys and their fierce, even rowdier leader…
The tiny pixie got lost in her train of thought, too busy daydreaming and reminiscing on what once was before she’d left without a word. Suddenly, she popped up, hearing the all-too-familiar voices she avoided approaching the hideout. Scrambling to her feet, she rushed back into her small (yet very spacious, thank you very much) room and shut the tree knot door. Tink scurried quickly into her makeshift closet to, hopefully, help shield her glow; hearing the rumble-tumbles blasting through the Tree as the Lost Boys returned. She covered her mouth as she heard footsteps approach closer and closer. The pixie only had one thought racing through her mind: Don’t jingle… don’t jingle… don’t jingle…
Peter and the rest of the gain came rumbling into their hideout, hooting and hollering at their newest member to the troop, a shy boy who refused to give any ounce of information to them. They’d get it out of him somehow, of course, otherwise they’d be forced to name the lad themselves, which isn’t entirely all that bad. He was red in the face, sweaty, stinky, and adrenaline-fueled, and it was a feeling he had loved since the first day he arrived to Neverland.
“To Shyguy!” Peter erupted the hollers of the Lost Boys, proclaiming the name of their newfound friend, completely unaware to the fact that “Shyguy” was actually trying to exit the hideout, but the rest of the lost boys had blocked his path. “The newest recruit to our band of Lost Boys!” He held up a small cup, chipped in the side but it still held liquid alright, and drank an imaginary shot of water from the glass. The Lost Boys dropped dramatically to the floor and bowed at Peter, who was evidently the king, and Shyguy, being left out, immediately succumbed to the nonsense.
Tink poked her head out of her hiding place. Shyguy? she thought to herself. She crept to the knot door, opened it slightly and poked her head out. A new one? she scrunched her face in confusion, but still accepted it nonetheless. The new boy didn’t seem too keen on being with the rest of them… poor boy. The pixie jingled out a small giggle at the sight of him trying to leave and quickly clamped her hand over her mouth and darted back inside her nook. That’s not what ‘don’t jingle’ sounds like, Tink, she thought, brushing her bangs out of her face.
“Hush!” Peter barked at the Lost Boys, cocking his head to the side. Was that a jingle? His brows furrowed. It certainly sounded like a jingle, a particular jingle he had not heard in quite awhile. His eyes landed on the small room that the boys had created for their favorite fairy, Tinkerbell.
“What did ya hear, Peter?” A brave Lost Boy asked, followed by a commotion of the other lost boys either repeating the question or hushing the ones talking.
Peter snapped his head back towards the boys, “Shut up!” He yelled at them sternly. He crept quietly towards the nook’s door, and just as he was readying himself to open it, he put his arm right next to his side with a shake of his head. She wouldn’t come back for him, not after he had treated her about Wendy. “The wind must have spooked me,” he muttered, more to reassure himself than to clarify to the lost boys.
Tink stayed close to the knot, hesitating ever so slightly. Maybe coming out of hiding wouldn’t be too bad… she did miss her best friend after all, no matter how he treated her. She took a quiet deep breath. He already found her, so why not make a little appearance? The pixie loved the thought of all the attention it would bring. She sat down in front of the knot, legs crossed. With another deep breath, she smiled and shook her head from side to side, jingling out a relieved and cheery hi Peter with a little didja miss me to follow.
Peter jumped and looked at the knot with wide eyes, as if he just seen a ghost. “Tink!” He obnoxiously yelled, a large grin beaming on his face with realization. She came back for him! Peter laughed for having doubted his ears and swung the door to the nook open. “I wouldn’t say I missed you, but I’m glad you’re back,” he said, trying to keep his pride in check, especially with the excitement of the boys who were flocking over to see. Even Shyguy came to look at the small fairy.
