This was why he preferred to come to the library. The quiet was settling, something he couldn’t get anywhere else. The bar was always full of people and music and noise, even his apartment had too thin of walls to be considered quiet. Someone was always doing something in one of the neighboring apartments. But here, here he could think again. There were plenty of times when thinking was not a good thing, it always put him in a sentimental mood. A dangerous thing to be around Wendy, especially when she was already looking for something. He doubted that she knew what she was looking for, but she was looking for something. For now though, in the silence, he tipped his head back and shut his own eyes as well. Her question took some time to settle, and he took even more time to answer. “The sea…” He finally said, an unintentional amount of ache in the words. But he did ache. For the sea, for the stars, for something that he didn’t know. Home called to him from a place he had never been. “The sea and the stars and the quiet at night.” There were too many things that he couldn’t say he missed. There was Peter, but he didn’t miss the version of Peter who had lived in Neverland.
Neverland had lost it’s wonder for him when he had still been a boy. He could still recall life as a lost boy, all full of games and running and running and running. During the day, it had been magical, the stuff of dreams. During the night, that was when the nightmares came out to play and it was magical in all the wrong and twisted ways. “I don’t miss Neverland.” He said, surprising himself. He didn’t. That place held nothing but bad memories, the worst of his relationship with his brother. Neverland was his failure, materialized. It was everything he had ever done wrong, with Peter, in life, everything. This mundane world might not suit him, but he would be more than happy to hear that island had been destroyed.
She could almost feel the pain in Hook’s words when he finally replied. The sea was definitely one of the more breathtaking aspects of Neverland. For Wendy, it was a close second to the fairies that lived in the forest and the stars against the night sky. She let out of a soft sigh. It hurt to think about those sights now, especially when all she ever did was forget about them. She often wondered if she would ever return, if it was even possible for her to do so. Even if she could return, she’d hope she’d be accompanied by Peter or even Hook. Neverland was still home to her, even if she had only been there for awhile. “I miss the stars too,” Wendy replied, her eyes fluttering open. She turned to look at her page, eyes trailing to the margins where she had drawn stars awhile back. “And the adventures,” she added. “The only times I’ve ever felt like myself.” Wendy tended to share a lot when she was sentimental and though she knew he wouldn’t pay attention to any of those details—despite still believing he did—she liked sharing them anyway.
The moment Hook said he didn’t miss it, Wendy raised her brows. “Oh? Memories were too painful?” she asked before quickly adding. “You don’t have to answer that.” It was best to take it one step at a time if she wanted to know more about Hook. He didn’t seem to like the fact that she was nosy and she didn’t want to have to spend another two hours in silence, even if it did mean being productive with her writing. “I understand,” she said with a nod. She had way too many painful memories herself, not in Neverland but in London. “Sometimes forgetting is the easiest way to move on.”
