Writer: beckychan

The sun was pleasantly warm against Riku's back, and he grumbled as he put mop to deck. Why had he agreed to this? He thought... he thought he'd said no, he thought Peter would have stayed to help him. He thought Sora at least wouldn't have abandoned him...

But Pan had given orders and they'd... flown off. All of them. Even Kairi.

Kairi. He could picture her eyes and her smile and her hair...

"Quitcher daydreamin'," a pirate tattooed all over said gruffly, and Riku got back to work swabbing. His sword had been taken from him, which he found odd. If he was to be a pirate, he needed a weapon, right?

Wrong. He was a pirate-in-training, and so his loyalty had to be tested first. Which probably had a lot to do with the shackle that kept him chained to the deck, as well.

He heard the casual stride of the captain approaching him. "Riku, Riku," the man said, rolling his r's slightly in an aristocratic way. The boy glared at him in response, his silver hair shining like the sun off a breaker on the sea. "Now, now, is that any way to look at your captain?"

"Not my captain," the boy - yes! Boy! And don't you forget it, you pirate! - sneered.

"No need to be that way, me boy," Hook sniffed. "I've got a proposition for ye."

"Not interested!"

"Hear me out, hear me out." He draped an arm across the boy's shoulders in comradery. "You tell me where Pan is hiding out, and I tell ye how to win the heart of Miss Kairi."

Riku started. How had he learned her name? Then again, it had been hours, and Neverland was a painfully small island.

"After all," Hook went on, "if left to her own devices, Miss Kairi will fall in love with Peter, just as all girls inevitably do. Just like the mermaids and Tiger Lily and, of course, Miss Bell. Does Peter Pan really need another maiden sighing after him? Especially since he's bound to just cast her aside, like all the others. Whatever happened to that Wendy girl? One minute, she's the light of his life and the next, she's not even mentioned anymore."

It was tempting. There was a ring of... rightness to it. Peter always got the girls. Always. And he didn't even really want them. It was all just another game to him. If he left Kairi with Peter long enough, she'd forget all about him, Riku, and fall for Peter instead! And then Pan would play games with her heart, and not care how it hurt her!

Captain Hook saw the expression on Riku's face, the inner turmoil, the anger boiling to the surface, and smiled a slow, sly smile.

"Do we have a deal, then?"

"He's not a pirate!"

Sora's rage was almost palpable. Why was Peter just sitting there, doing nothing? Why were his pipes to his lips? Why was the tune he was playing merry instead of sad?

"He's not a pirate!" the brunet insisted again.

"I think Sora's right," Kairi tried to get Peter's attention. "What do you boys think?"

The other Lost Boys hemmed and hawed a bit, staring at the ceiling and floor and not giving a straight answer, which made both Sora and Kairi frown.

"We believe whatever Peter says," one twin said at last.

"--believe whatever Peter says," the second twin echoed, an off-beat from his brother.

"Come on, Peter!" Kairi begged the green-clad boy.

Peter turned a frown on her. "Riku knows the rules," he said harshly. "No growing up allowed."

"But he hasn't grown up!" Sora insisted.

"Yes, he has! Riku cares more about Kairi than about any of us! That means he's growing up!"

Kairi blushed. What was Peter talking about?

"Nuh-uh!" Sora had started to cry, fat tears sliding down his cheeks. "He's my best friend! He cares most about me!"

"This is about me?" Kairi asked, and despite the fact that her voice was soft, it broke through the sounds of the argument heating up.

Sora bounded over to her and took her hands in his. "No, of course not!" he said, forgetting his own tears in his distress for her.

"Yes," Peter replied at the same time, still frowning. "So he deserves what's coming to him. It's not your fault, Kairi. He's been growing up for a while now. He's taller than he used to be."

The Lost Boys gasped as one. Clearly, this was a serious crime, getting taller.

"Then we have to make him remember!" Sora wheedled. "Come on, Peter! Help me help him remember how to be a boy!"

The leader of the Lost Boys, the soul of Neverland considered, pacing the room. Every now and then he'd pause to play a three note tune on his pipes. Finally he spun on his heel, making a full three rotations before stopping to face the assembled boys (and one girl) with a huge grin. "Alright!" he said, and they cheered. "But on one condition!" he continued, getting serious again, and they were instantly silenced. "If we take him back and he starts to grow up again, Riku will be banished from Neverland forever!"