~I Cry For You, I'm Weak For You~
A/N: Okay, my very first Treasure Planet fanfic. Two main reasons for writing this: it really bothered me when, at the time Silver introduced Jim to "Mr. Mop" and "Mrs. Bucket", Jim's expression when Silver said he had new friends for him. It just struck something in me, ya know? I had to write a fic on that. Second reason is that I'm getting absolutely sick of all those TP fics out there that involve Jim and some OC girl, falling in love. Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with them, but there's just too many. Don't take this as an insult tho, some of those fics are absolutely great. Anyway, those are the two main reasons I rushed to write this.
Summary: Takes place when Jim is mopping the deck, before he gets in a fight with Mr. Scroop.
Remember that hopeful expression of Jim's when Silver said he had two new friends for him (Mr. Mop and Mrs. Bucket)? This fic is a look into Jim's experience with friends, how he shunned them because of a girl named Sela. Find out if Sela's intentions were really meant to hurt or help Jim. And if she meant to be one of the reasons Jim could never truly get over his father's desertion.
-Prologue-
"Jimbo!" The young, brown haired lad turned his head from peering over at the quickly vanishing pod of orcus galactis (A/N: srri if I got that wrong) to glance at the sea cook, smooth, uncaring look replacing the joy and wonder that graced his face moments before.
"I've got two new friends for ye." Silver said winningly, grinning in anticipation of his little joke. To his slight surprise, Jim's cold features were suddenly alight with a hopeful glimmer, life restored and dazzling in his large eyes. Slight guilt made its way into Silver's gut as disappointment, then immediate indifference was expressed from the boy as he was introduced to 'Mr. Mop' and 'Mrs. Bucket'. Perhaps it was more than a joke to him. . .
~~~~a few hours later~~~~
'. . .psh. . .friends. What was I thinking, getting my hopes up like that. . .who needs them. . .' Jim thought wrathfully, viciously mopping the ship's floor with his new friend. He knew it was only a harmless joke that that cyborg came up with just because he felt he had to humor himself, but. . .
The ferocious, angry swipes of the mop slowed as Jim paused to wipe his brow. It was lunchtime, so the deck was empty save for himself and little morph, who had probably decided watching scurvy sailors eat was less preferable to open air. The cute little blob was now flitting about the gently waving sails, chirruping obliviously. Looking up at the simple- minded creature, Jim let a small smile creep to his face. As his gaze wandered from the pink blob up to the stars, a memory resurfaced. . .a memory of a smiling girl, only her twinkling, starlike eyes defined on the hazy figure in his mind otherwise blurred and unclear from the separation of time. . .
-Chapter One-
~~~flashback~~~
"Jimmy!! Jimmy, come on! We're gonna be late, silly!" Childish giggling erupted from a redhead girl's mouth as a small boy clambered over the school fence clumsily, brown jacket nearly tearing at the sleeve.
Panting, ten year old James Hawkins hurriedly chased his bubbly companion into the old brick building, small ponytail jerking along with his hurried movements. "Wait for me, Sela!"
"Come on, you slowpoke! We're gonna get in trouble again!" As the girl waved, she nimbly turned the corner towards the direction of their classroom. Smiling at his cheery friend, Jim quickly followed, unaware of the approaching shadow until it struck.
"Whoa! Hey, let go you jer-" Jim gulped as he came face to face with the grumpy, froglike (and in Jim's opinion, rather ugly) face of the school's principal.
"Late again, are we, Mr. Hawkins? Care to explain what fell from the sky this time? Or was it the pirates that kidnapped you again?" Young Jim rolled his eyes, blowing a defeated sigh as he dangled by his jacket in the alien's strong grasp.
~*RECESS*~
*Knock knock* Jim jerked his head up from its position buried in his arms to glance at the window. Sela's cheeky face peered at him, a winning smile nearly splitting her chubby face in two.
A grin quickly replaced the gloom of sitting for ten full minutes with nothing to do. Reassured by the profound snoring coming from his supervisor Ms. Pigglewiggly (A/N: name made by my ten year old cousin), Jim abandoned his desk and crept over to open the window.
"Come on, Jimmy, ditch the dodo and come play! You can sneak back in before the bell rings, what do ya say?" The pretty violet eyes narrowed as the smile widened even more.
"Ummm. . .I dunno. . .Mr. Gearhopper isn't really happy with me lately. . .maybe I should try and be good for a bit to get him off my back."
Sela rolled her eyes, impatiently blowing stray red strands of hair out of her face. "Come on, you big baby. It's no big deal, s'not like he's actually gonna call your mom for something like this."
"Well-"
"Young man, you are in a detention at the moment. Get back to your desk, and get those thoughts of trying to get out to play out of your head right now!" Jim winced as he and Sela were interrupted.
"But ma'am, I wasn't going to-" Jim glanced at the window, intending to warn Sela to get away if she were to avoid trouble. Inwardly, though, he hoped she would stay to defend his position. Jim winced as he saw he was alone on this one, watching through the now closed window as Sela skipped away, whistling as innocent as you please.
"That's enough of your half-witted excuses, boy. Get back to your seat and if I catch your bum moving so much as an inch away from it, you can look forward to two more weeks of lunch detention!" Jim slowly trudged back to his seat, throwing one last wistful glance at the retreating back of his friend.
"Little twerp. Had you been raised properly, perhaps by a FATHER of some sort, maybe you wouldn't have turned out this way." The teacher muttered.
Something snapped, perhaps helped along by the irritation and disappointment at Sela's desertion, but Jim would certainly regret it later on.
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY DAD!" The little boy all but roared, launching himself full into his teacher's shocked face. Clawing and scratching, Jim was hardly aware of Ms. Pigglewiggly's cries of surprise and pain, nor the pounding of feet as Mr. Gearhopper rushed in.
Dragged off still scratching and flailing about, Jim's face was red from screaming with tears of anger streaming down his cheeks.
"James Plaeides Hawkins, you have exceeded the borders of my patience! We will have a serious talk with your mother on this one, young man, and don't be surprised to face expulsion!" Jim, for the second time that day, dangled from Mr. Gearhopper's firm grip, head hanging in shame. The recess bell rang unnoticed.
"You see what kind of uncivilized, immoral. . . monsters fatherless boys turn out to be! Worthless junk, Leland (A/N: is that really Jim's dad's name? I saw it in a fanfic once, but I dunno if it's the official name) Hawkins was, just like his boy!" Ms. Pigglewiggly growled, dabbing her scratched face with a wet tissue. "Expulsion's too good for the likes of him!"
"You leave my dad out of this!" Jim screamed, anger ignited once more. He struggled against the principal's grip, crying and shouting at the same time. "He had his reasons! He'll be back! DON'T YOU TALK BAD ABOUT HI- mmmf!"
"That's enough!" Mr. Gearhopper roared, muffling further tantrums with a large hand over young Jim's mouth. "Continue this behavior, and a parent conference will not be needed to determine whether you may stay here! Go call your mother, now."
By now, curious students and teachers had gathered outside the classroom. In front of the crowd stood Sela, wide eyes watching as her friend slunk through the mass of people towards the main office, head hanging but fists still clenched. Perhaps he needed some perking up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, Jim?" Sela timidly tapped on the door to the classroom Jim was to stay in until his mother arrived. When he didn't answer, Sela walked up to the sulking boy to draw a big breath, managing to somehow keep her voice in a whisper yet shout loud enough to make Jim wince.
"Jim Hawkins, I'm trying to give you comfort here and here you are, ignoring me, not giving a single look, not even talking to me!" Sela cried out fiercely.
Jim buried his head further into his arms, his response slightly muffled. "Go 'way."
"Oh, so you don't want my comfort, huh? Fine then, I suppose I'm not your friend, is that it?" Sela huffed, turning to leave.
"Wait."
Sela turned, lifting one eyebrow. "What?"
"I'm sorry. . .I'm just. . ." Sniffle.
Walking back to the now sobbing boy, Sela placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, come on now Jim, boys don't cry. I've told you that before, a lot of times. What, are you weak or something?"
The sniffling stopped, followed by a quiet, "I'm not weak. But what'm I gonna do when my mom comes back from with Mr. Gearhopper? She sounded so. . .so angry on the phone. . .what'm I gonna do, Sela?"
"Well," Sela replied casually, examining her blood-red polished nails, "It kinda was your fault, attacking the teacher like that. What did she do to make you so mad?"
"She-she said. . .I was. . .a worthless. . ." Jim had to stop talking as sobs once again overtook his speech, shoulders heaving violently.
"Jim. . ." Sela scolded as sternly as a 13-year-old could scold. She smiled as the sobs stopped.
"She said I w-was worthless junk, just be-because my dad left. . .and that my dad was also junk too for leaving. . .but he must've had a good reason, right? Grownups aren't wrong, are they? He'll come back, and then he'll beat up Ms. Pigglewiggly and show her that he's more than what she thinks he is."
Sela sighed like a mother trying unsuccessfully to lecture her child. "Jimmy, Jimmy. You know how that's not true, and the more you think that it is, the more you'll believe it, and then you'll just be believing something that's not true, and you know that's bad because it's not the truth!"
Jim lifted his head, blue eyes swirling in confusion. "Huh?"
Sela sighed again impatiently. "I mean, don't lie to yourself! Your dad left because he was bad, and since he was bad, you don't have to stand up for him!"
"But Sela-! How can you say that? My dad isn't bad!" Jim angrily retorted, standing up from his seat defiantly.
"Jim, take it like a man. Well, to do that, you first gotta clean your face." Jim quickly scrubbed all evidence of tears with his back sleeve. "That's better. Anyway, just get this into that brain of yours. Your dad's gone, he's not coming back, and you gotta forget him. Kay?" Sela winked cheerily, flashing a toothy smile.
"Excuse me, Sela Spakker, I'll take it from here, thank you." Jim had never heard his mother's voice so steely before. Indignant that his mother spoke this way to his best friend, Jim immediately forgot the harsh wake up call Sela had given him.
"Mom, Sela was just trying to cheer me up! Don't talk like that to her, you know she's my friend!"
Sarah Hawkins directed her stony gaze at her son. "Perhaps you would like to defend yourself first. Explain yourself, young man. Perhaps the story of what has happened today will come differently from your mouth than it did from Mr. Gearhopper's a minute ago."
Probably not wanting to get caught up in the crossfire of a mother-son fight, Sela quickly scurried away without a word.
Immediately reminded of exactly why Sela was trying to cheer him up, Jim's gaze shot down to his feet.
"Maybe your tongue will loosen up at home."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: So, is Sela trying to help or hurt? Keep reading if you want to know. And, Uh oh, young Jim's in trouble! Find out what happens to him in the next chapter.
A/N: Okay, my very first Treasure Planet fanfic. Two main reasons for writing this: it really bothered me when, at the time Silver introduced Jim to "Mr. Mop" and "Mrs. Bucket", Jim's expression when Silver said he had new friends for him. It just struck something in me, ya know? I had to write a fic on that. Second reason is that I'm getting absolutely sick of all those TP fics out there that involve Jim and some OC girl, falling in love. Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with them, but there's just too many. Don't take this as an insult tho, some of those fics are absolutely great. Anyway, those are the two main reasons I rushed to write this.
Summary: Takes place when Jim is mopping the deck, before he gets in a fight with Mr. Scroop.
Remember that hopeful expression of Jim's when Silver said he had two new friends for him (Mr. Mop and Mrs. Bucket)? This fic is a look into Jim's experience with friends, how he shunned them because of a girl named Sela. Find out if Sela's intentions were really meant to hurt or help Jim. And if she meant to be one of the reasons Jim could never truly get over his father's desertion.
-Prologue-
"Jimbo!" The young, brown haired lad turned his head from peering over at the quickly vanishing pod of orcus galactis (A/N: srri if I got that wrong) to glance at the sea cook, smooth, uncaring look replacing the joy and wonder that graced his face moments before.
"I've got two new friends for ye." Silver said winningly, grinning in anticipation of his little joke. To his slight surprise, Jim's cold features were suddenly alight with a hopeful glimmer, life restored and dazzling in his large eyes. Slight guilt made its way into Silver's gut as disappointment, then immediate indifference was expressed from the boy as he was introduced to 'Mr. Mop' and 'Mrs. Bucket'. Perhaps it was more than a joke to him. . .
~~~~a few hours later~~~~
'. . .psh. . .friends. What was I thinking, getting my hopes up like that. . .who needs them. . .' Jim thought wrathfully, viciously mopping the ship's floor with his new friend. He knew it was only a harmless joke that that cyborg came up with just because he felt he had to humor himself, but. . .
The ferocious, angry swipes of the mop slowed as Jim paused to wipe his brow. It was lunchtime, so the deck was empty save for himself and little morph, who had probably decided watching scurvy sailors eat was less preferable to open air. The cute little blob was now flitting about the gently waving sails, chirruping obliviously. Looking up at the simple- minded creature, Jim let a small smile creep to his face. As his gaze wandered from the pink blob up to the stars, a memory resurfaced. . .a memory of a smiling girl, only her twinkling, starlike eyes defined on the hazy figure in his mind otherwise blurred and unclear from the separation of time. . .
-Chapter One-
~~~flashback~~~
"Jimmy!! Jimmy, come on! We're gonna be late, silly!" Childish giggling erupted from a redhead girl's mouth as a small boy clambered over the school fence clumsily, brown jacket nearly tearing at the sleeve.
Panting, ten year old James Hawkins hurriedly chased his bubbly companion into the old brick building, small ponytail jerking along with his hurried movements. "Wait for me, Sela!"
"Come on, you slowpoke! We're gonna get in trouble again!" As the girl waved, she nimbly turned the corner towards the direction of their classroom. Smiling at his cheery friend, Jim quickly followed, unaware of the approaching shadow until it struck.
"Whoa! Hey, let go you jer-" Jim gulped as he came face to face with the grumpy, froglike (and in Jim's opinion, rather ugly) face of the school's principal.
"Late again, are we, Mr. Hawkins? Care to explain what fell from the sky this time? Or was it the pirates that kidnapped you again?" Young Jim rolled his eyes, blowing a defeated sigh as he dangled by his jacket in the alien's strong grasp.
~*RECESS*~
*Knock knock* Jim jerked his head up from its position buried in his arms to glance at the window. Sela's cheeky face peered at him, a winning smile nearly splitting her chubby face in two.
A grin quickly replaced the gloom of sitting for ten full minutes with nothing to do. Reassured by the profound snoring coming from his supervisor Ms. Pigglewiggly (A/N: name made by my ten year old cousin), Jim abandoned his desk and crept over to open the window.
"Come on, Jimmy, ditch the dodo and come play! You can sneak back in before the bell rings, what do ya say?" The pretty violet eyes narrowed as the smile widened even more.
"Ummm. . .I dunno. . .Mr. Gearhopper isn't really happy with me lately. . .maybe I should try and be good for a bit to get him off my back."
Sela rolled her eyes, impatiently blowing stray red strands of hair out of her face. "Come on, you big baby. It's no big deal, s'not like he's actually gonna call your mom for something like this."
"Well-"
"Young man, you are in a detention at the moment. Get back to your desk, and get those thoughts of trying to get out to play out of your head right now!" Jim winced as he and Sela were interrupted.
"But ma'am, I wasn't going to-" Jim glanced at the window, intending to warn Sela to get away if she were to avoid trouble. Inwardly, though, he hoped she would stay to defend his position. Jim winced as he saw he was alone on this one, watching through the now closed window as Sela skipped away, whistling as innocent as you please.
"That's enough of your half-witted excuses, boy. Get back to your seat and if I catch your bum moving so much as an inch away from it, you can look forward to two more weeks of lunch detention!" Jim slowly trudged back to his seat, throwing one last wistful glance at the retreating back of his friend.
"Little twerp. Had you been raised properly, perhaps by a FATHER of some sort, maybe you wouldn't have turned out this way." The teacher muttered.
Something snapped, perhaps helped along by the irritation and disappointment at Sela's desertion, but Jim would certainly regret it later on.
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY DAD!" The little boy all but roared, launching himself full into his teacher's shocked face. Clawing and scratching, Jim was hardly aware of Ms. Pigglewiggly's cries of surprise and pain, nor the pounding of feet as Mr. Gearhopper rushed in.
Dragged off still scratching and flailing about, Jim's face was red from screaming with tears of anger streaming down his cheeks.
"James Plaeides Hawkins, you have exceeded the borders of my patience! We will have a serious talk with your mother on this one, young man, and don't be surprised to face expulsion!" Jim, for the second time that day, dangled from Mr. Gearhopper's firm grip, head hanging in shame. The recess bell rang unnoticed.
"You see what kind of uncivilized, immoral. . . monsters fatherless boys turn out to be! Worthless junk, Leland (A/N: is that really Jim's dad's name? I saw it in a fanfic once, but I dunno if it's the official name) Hawkins was, just like his boy!" Ms. Pigglewiggly growled, dabbing her scratched face with a wet tissue. "Expulsion's too good for the likes of him!"
"You leave my dad out of this!" Jim screamed, anger ignited once more. He struggled against the principal's grip, crying and shouting at the same time. "He had his reasons! He'll be back! DON'T YOU TALK BAD ABOUT HI- mmmf!"
"That's enough!" Mr. Gearhopper roared, muffling further tantrums with a large hand over young Jim's mouth. "Continue this behavior, and a parent conference will not be needed to determine whether you may stay here! Go call your mother, now."
By now, curious students and teachers had gathered outside the classroom. In front of the crowd stood Sela, wide eyes watching as her friend slunk through the mass of people towards the main office, head hanging but fists still clenched. Perhaps he needed some perking up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, Jim?" Sela timidly tapped on the door to the classroom Jim was to stay in until his mother arrived. When he didn't answer, Sela walked up to the sulking boy to draw a big breath, managing to somehow keep her voice in a whisper yet shout loud enough to make Jim wince.
"Jim Hawkins, I'm trying to give you comfort here and here you are, ignoring me, not giving a single look, not even talking to me!" Sela cried out fiercely.
Jim buried his head further into his arms, his response slightly muffled. "Go 'way."
"Oh, so you don't want my comfort, huh? Fine then, I suppose I'm not your friend, is that it?" Sela huffed, turning to leave.
"Wait."
Sela turned, lifting one eyebrow. "What?"
"I'm sorry. . .I'm just. . ." Sniffle.
Walking back to the now sobbing boy, Sela placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, come on now Jim, boys don't cry. I've told you that before, a lot of times. What, are you weak or something?"
The sniffling stopped, followed by a quiet, "I'm not weak. But what'm I gonna do when my mom comes back from with Mr. Gearhopper? She sounded so. . .so angry on the phone. . .what'm I gonna do, Sela?"
"Well," Sela replied casually, examining her blood-red polished nails, "It kinda was your fault, attacking the teacher like that. What did she do to make you so mad?"
"She-she said. . .I was. . .a worthless. . ." Jim had to stop talking as sobs once again overtook his speech, shoulders heaving violently.
"Jim. . ." Sela scolded as sternly as a 13-year-old could scold. She smiled as the sobs stopped.
"She said I w-was worthless junk, just be-because my dad left. . .and that my dad was also junk too for leaving. . .but he must've had a good reason, right? Grownups aren't wrong, are they? He'll come back, and then he'll beat up Ms. Pigglewiggly and show her that he's more than what she thinks he is."
Sela sighed like a mother trying unsuccessfully to lecture her child. "Jimmy, Jimmy. You know how that's not true, and the more you think that it is, the more you'll believe it, and then you'll just be believing something that's not true, and you know that's bad because it's not the truth!"
Jim lifted his head, blue eyes swirling in confusion. "Huh?"
Sela sighed again impatiently. "I mean, don't lie to yourself! Your dad left because he was bad, and since he was bad, you don't have to stand up for him!"
"But Sela-! How can you say that? My dad isn't bad!" Jim angrily retorted, standing up from his seat defiantly.
"Jim, take it like a man. Well, to do that, you first gotta clean your face." Jim quickly scrubbed all evidence of tears with his back sleeve. "That's better. Anyway, just get this into that brain of yours. Your dad's gone, he's not coming back, and you gotta forget him. Kay?" Sela winked cheerily, flashing a toothy smile.
"Excuse me, Sela Spakker, I'll take it from here, thank you." Jim had never heard his mother's voice so steely before. Indignant that his mother spoke this way to his best friend, Jim immediately forgot the harsh wake up call Sela had given him.
"Mom, Sela was just trying to cheer me up! Don't talk like that to her, you know she's my friend!"
Sarah Hawkins directed her stony gaze at her son. "Perhaps you would like to defend yourself first. Explain yourself, young man. Perhaps the story of what has happened today will come differently from your mouth than it did from Mr. Gearhopper's a minute ago."
Probably not wanting to get caught up in the crossfire of a mother-son fight, Sela quickly scurried away without a word.
Immediately reminded of exactly why Sela was trying to cheer him up, Jim's gaze shot down to his feet.
"Maybe your tongue will loosen up at home."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: So, is Sela trying to help or hurt? Keep reading if you want to know. And, Uh oh, young Jim's in trouble! Find out what happens to him in the next chapter.