Felix took the steps two at a time down to the corridor not being able to get out of the apartment fast enough. As he went to push on the glass door, it suddenly swung open causing him to fall forward into a figure. Felix growled audibly and stepped back, growing tired of running into the Storybrooke residents so often.

The brown eyes of the middle aged man in front of him grew wide with surprise as Felix merely stared back at him coldly, one side of his lips elevated in tense agitation.

"Felix?" The man breathed out in disbelief.

"Baelfire," Felix responded in a low growl. This was yet another grievance Felix wasn't in the mood to deal with.

Neal's shoulders tensed as his eyebrows crinkled together in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, glancing behind Felix and seeing nobody else. "And where's Pan?"

Felix felt himself sigh inwardly. He was sick of having to explain this story repeatedly.

"He's on a trip," he muttered, forcing his voice to remain even.

Neal's eyebrows scrunched together even more as he pointed to Felix.

"And you didn't go with him?" He asked, clearly even more confused.

Felix growled again and pushed past the man, heading in the direction of the diner.

"Whoa! Felix! Wait up!" Neal called out, quickly jogging the few feet the blonde had managed to get away. He stood in front of the boy in order to block his path and placed a hand out to stop him. Even after so many years, Felix still stood a few inches taller.

"You still never told me what you were doing here," Neal continued, now giving Felix a more concerned look. "I thought you and Pan were staying away from everyone."

"Get out of my way, Baelfire," Felix growled, his voice low and his eyes deadly.

Neal snorted a little in amusement at the command, the side of his mouth rising in a lopsided smile.

"You can't tell me what to do. I'm not a Lost Boy anymore. I'm a grown man now."

Felix suddenly stepped forward, grabbing Neal's collar and pulling him up slightly so that the two were almost level. Felix's eyes flashed dangerously as they bored into the other male's.

Neal was momentarily surprised by Felix's sudden actions but his easy smile quickly returned.

"Go ahead," Neal dared. "Hit me."

Felix didn't make any move. He merely continued to stare into those wide brown orbs that still looked so painfully familiar despite the change in the man's outward appearance. Those orbs that had looked at him with that same challenge in them so many times before.

Felix slowly allowed Neal to fall back onto his feet before pushing past the man once more. He managed to get farther this time but Neal's amused tone of voice instantly halted him.

"You've gone soft, Felix."

And he had. He knew he had even before encountering Neal that evening.

Felix knew he had gone soft when he didn't refuse breakfast with Henry yesterday or the work at the diner Ruby volunteered him for. He knew he had gone soft when Belle asked him to help with that box of books. When he didn't punch Rumple in the face despite how desperately he wanted to. When Emma's pleads and wide eyes were all it took to get him to agree to a dinner with people he despised, not once but twice. When Snow begged him not to say anything about her pregnancy and he agreed, even allowing her to vent to him about her worries. When Hook gave him work to do on his ship and he didn't even hesitate to pick up the mop. And then tonight at the dinner, he just sat there and allowed his two greatest enemies to make all kinds of threats against him and Peter and he didn't even so much as growl.

Felix really had gone soft. It was appalling to have Neal dare him to do something and for Felix to just walk away. Back on Neverland, if Baelfire got mouthy, Felix wouldn't hesitate to give him a little knock on the head. Not enough to hurt him but enough to shut him up. Now, he couldn't even do that.

"Well, you certainly don't act like a grown man," Felix responded over his shoulder, not being able to think of any way to argue what Neal had said. "You're still that same annoying little brat that wouldn't listen to a word anybody said all those years ago."

Neal smirked a little and looked down at his shoes, stuffing his hands into his brown coat's pockets. It was the exact same thing he would do as a Lost Boy out of embarrassment whenever Felix complimented his fighting skills.

Felix tensed. He didn't appreciate the small warmth that filled his chest at the memories.

"Yeah, well, you're still the same boring guy that always follows Pan's rules to the T," Neal replied, meeting Felix's softer eyes with a smile as he casually walked back over to the blonde. "You haven't changed a bit."

Felix felt disgusted by the sudden emotion he felt and quickly steered the conversation in a less uncomfortable direction.

"Well, you certainly have," he commented, giving Neal a once over in disdain. Felix always remembered Baelfire looking rather... cute. He certainly hadn't aged well in Felix's opinion.

Neal laughed and looked down at himself before grinning up at the blonde again.

"You just wait, pal. Your time is coming too."

Felix actually smirked a little in amusement. Still the same old Baelfire.

"So, what were you doing here?" Neal asked again after a moment of silence, turning the conversation back around.

"Emma invited me for dinner," Felix responded, his humor quickly dying at the memories of what had transpired earlier that evening.

Neal must have noticed Felix's suddenly darkened mood because his eyebrows crinkled a little in concern.

"Yeah, she invited me as well but I told her I was going to be pretty late. Did something happen?"

"Nothing I wasn't expecting," Felix muttered, his eyes remaining cold despite his irritation and sadness.

Neal tilted his head to the side, just studying Felix for a moment.

"Did my dad give you a hard time?" He finally asked quietly.

Felix didn't respond.

Neal watched Felix for another moment before sighing and looking away.

"You know he's just mad at Pan for what happened when he was a child. ... And I guess partly for taking me and Henry to Neverland. He's..." Neal hesitated, trying to think of how best to describe Rumple. "... a very bitter man."

Felix didn't speak for a few moments and then finally scoffed.

"Well, the evil queen must be pretty bitter herself."

"Hey, Regina doesn't like any of the fairytale people. If she's giving you a hard time, that just means she views you as one of us," Neal quickly commented with that same lopsided smirk.

Felix smirked a little as well.

The glass doors of the apartment building suddenly pushed open as a dark haired, scruffy looking pirate captain stepped out into the cold, night air. He stopped just outside the doors and looked around, his eyes widening in surprise as they fell upon the two males just a few yards down.

As he made his way over to the two, his relieved expression instantly darkened as he caught sight of the other person with Felix. The pirate stopped beside Neal, his body tensing.

"Bae," he greeted without warmth.

"Killian," Neal responded with a similar tone.

Felix sighed inwardly. How was it that he was always the one stuck in the middle of awkward reunions?

"What are you doing here?" Hook asked, not looking at the man.

"Emma invited me," Neal responded, also avoiding eye contact with the pirate.

There was a long pause. Felix wondered how awkward it must be for Hook to be competing with his old cabin boy for the affections of a woman.

Hook suddenly turned his weary gaze onto Felix.

"Did you want to sleep on my ship tonight, lad? You can stay in the cabin boy's quarters."

Felix could have sworn he saw a flash go through Neal's eyes but the man simply shoved his hands deeper into his coat's pockets and looked down at his feet.

Felix knew Neal had once been very close with Hook. He wondered if the man was feeling a bit of jealousy at the thought of another boy staying in what had once been deemed HIS quarters.

Felix shook his head.

"I'll just go back to the diner."

Neal lifted his head to give Felix a slightly surprised look. Hook glanced over at the man briefly.

"As you wish," was all the pirate said before dipping his head slightly to both of them and then heading down towards the docks, his boots clicking on the concrete.

The two were silent for several long moments as Hook disappeared from sight. Finally Neal spoke with a quizzical gaze directed at Felix.

"You didn't have to do that. You could have gone with him. It doesn't bother me."

Felix almost scoffed but, instead, merely shrugged a shoulder.

"I wanted to sleep in my room," he said simply.

Neal tilted his head a little to the side and studied the blonde for a moment longer before heaving a sigh and looking back down at the ground again.

"We used to be close when I was a child," he began, his voice sounding a little sad. "I don't know what happened. I guess we just kind of... grew apart. He's a really good guy. He's just... difficult, I guess."

Felix's lips quirked upwards into a very tiny smirk of amusement, remembering all the times people had questioned him about Peter and all he could think to say to describe him was "difficult."

Felix studied Neal for a long moment.

"Do you really like Emma?"

Neal's head immediately snapped up to meet his gaze, his eyes wide with surprise. Felix was actually a little surprised himself by the blunt question.

"Of course I do," Neal scoffed, his eyebrows crinkling together in confusion. "I love her. Why would you ask something like that?"

Felix didn't respond.

He remembered the connection he had seen between Emma and Hook. There was a certain... fire in both of them that wasn't evident in Neal. At least, not in his talks of Emma. It was the same fire he had seen in several couples over the last two days. Snow and David had a certain passion for each other. Just like Ariel and Eric and, disgustingly, Rumple and Belle. That same burning he experienced constantly with Peter. Neal may have loved Emma, and Henry, with all his heart but Felix didn't see that fire in him.

Felix glanced over his shoulder down the sidewalk in the direction of the diner.

"I should be going," he finally said, suddenly beginning to feel a little chilled by the night air.

Neal continued to study him with scrunched eyebrows for another moment longer before clearing his throat and glancing behind him at the door to the apartment building.

"Yeah, I should be getting upstairs. I'm sure Emma's waiting." Felix didn't miss the slightly perturbed tone to the man's words.

Felix turned to walk away when Neal's voice suddenly stopped him.

"Hey, Felix."

The blonde looked back at the man with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Since we're not in Neverland anymore I was thinking... maybe we could hang out sometime," Neal said with an awkward shrug of his shoulders and an embarrassed, lopsided smile.

Felix smirked a little and then nodded his head once.

"Sure. I'll bring Peter along."

Neal winced and then laughed uncomfortably.

"Yeah, actually, never mind."

Felix chuckled quietly before waving Neal off and heading back on towards the diner.

/

I don't feel like we really accomplished a whole lot in this chapter (except have some odd sexual tension) but Neal was the only real main person left that Felix hadn't spoken to. (… As far as I know.)

Finally, Peter will be arriving in the next chapter! Are you excited?! I am SO pumped for their first kiss!

Just a heads up. I'm not sure if this next chapter will be the last one or not. I plan on doing a sort of epilogue where we get to catch up with some of the more interesting characters after Peter arrives back in Storybrooke but I don't know if I'll tack that onto the next chapter or just make a whole new one. I guess it depends on how long it takes for Peter and Felix to… make up. … *cough*

Anyway! Thank you again for reading!