Wendy ran through the streets of Storybrooke without any real direction. All she knew was that she had to get as far away from home as possible. She was running past the school when she heard him.
"Wendy?" She stopped in her tracks and turned around.
"Not now Peter," she said her voice wobbling from emotion and exhaustion.
"Isn't it a little late for a race?" he asked walking close to her. Wendy sighed. She was just destined to never be listened to.
"I'm not having a race. I-I needed to get away from home for a little while," she explained keeping her voice as steady as possible.
"What happened?" Peter asked after a while.
"It doesn't matter," Wendy said suddenly deflated.
"Well you can't just run around town all night. You'll stay with me." Wendy wanted to argue, to tell him she would be just fine on her own, but all the fight seemed to be knocked out of her. All she could manage was a brief nod before he scooped her up bridal style and carried her the few blocks to her house.
"You didn't have to do that you know," Wendy said when he placed her gently on the couch.
"Don't think too much of it, Darling. It was easier to carry you than have to wait around for you," Peter answered standing in front of her.
Wendy took this opportunity to look around the house. There were no pictures hanging, nothing to suggest that anyone lived there. It was a house, but not a home.
"This place is awfully impersonal," she commented standing up and looking around.
"There is no need to make it personal. It's a place to live, nothing more."
Wendy walked back over to him, wanting nothing more than to give him a real home, to protect him from anything that might come. She placed a hand gently on his cheek. "Oh, Peter. What could have possibly lead to this?"
"Doesn't matter," he said turning away. Wendy wished she could take away whatever it was that was hurting him, but she didn't even know what it was. Sighing heavily, she sat down and wondered how she managed to find someone even more lost than she was.
"You still haven't told me why you left home," Peter pointed out sitting down next to her.
"It's my brothers. Their fear of your reputation is greater than their love for me," she told him, hurt and exasperated.
Peter had moved to rest his head in Wendy's lap and was now smirking up at her. "Reputation huh?"
"I'm glad to see that even when trying to be comforting you're still narcissistic and condescending," Wendy said, pretending to be annoyed. In truth she was glad. The last thing she wanted to have was a tearful heart to heart.
"It's a gift." Wendy rolled her eyes and tried her best to hide her smile.
"See? I can be comforting," Peter said sounding proud of himself.
"I like you better this way. When you're not trying to act cold and heartless," Wendy said smiling down at him.
"And I like you better when you smile," Peter told her. The unexpected compliment made her flush bright red.
"Thank you," she said unsure how else to react.
"Who said it was a compliment?" Peter challenged raising an eyebrow. Of course, Wendy thought frowning.
"It was by the way," he said noticing she'd taken him seriously.
"You have to warn me when you do that. I never know if you're being serious or not," Wendy complained upset at herself for falling for that.
"I'll try," Peter answered laughing.
The two fell silent, and Wendy started to sing quietly absent-mindedly stroking Peter's hair. She didn't realize she was doing it for quite sometime, and by then he'd fallen asleep. She smiled. Asleep, his face was innocent and serene. She'd only ever seen him go from playful to intimidating, so this was a welcome change. Quickly, she risked a soft kiss to his temple and tried to gather her jumbled thoughts.
"What am I gonna do?" she whispered to herself, feeling more conflicted that ever. Up until that day, she'd always felt that John and Micheal were right about Peter. She trusted their judgement, even if they were younger. But now with this broken, lost boy asleep in front of her, she was starting to think they were wrong. She knew how distrusted Peter was and how intimidating he could be. Yet she also knew how gentle and understanding he could be. Surely everyone else could see that too... Right?
Wendy sighed and rested her head. All of this was making her head spin. She didn't want to fall for Peter, even if her heart seemed to have other ideas about that, but she didn't want to be forbade from seeing him either. Conflicted feelings aside, she still enjoyed being with him and his lost boys, telling stories and playing games. She was on her way to sleep when Peter spoke.
"Wendy?" he asked quietly.
"Hmm?" she responded drowsily.
"You can sleep upstairs of you want," he suggested.
"I don't know about that," she said uneasily.
"I'll stay down here. Unless of course you have other ideas," he said standing up and smirking at her.
"Fine," Wendy conceded standing up too.
"Come on, Darling. Let's get you to bed," he said leading her up the stairs to his room.
Wendy didn't like this, but she was tired and the bed looked so inviting... Finally, she gave in and lay down.
"Sweet dreams, Darling," Peter said tucking her in and getting ready to leave. Wendy looked around at the unfamiliar room and sighed. There was no way she was going to get to sleep in this.
"Peter?" she called quietly.
He turned around, an expectant smirk on his face. "Yes?"
"Wipe that ridiculous smirk on your face and come here. I don't think I'll be able to sleep here alone," she admitted swallowing her pride.
"As you wish," he said crawling in beside her.
"And no funny business or I'm kicking you off," she warned.
"Wouldn't dream of it. Good night, Darling."
Wendy sighed in defeat. "Good night," she said finally finding the ability to close her eyes. And as much as she hated to admit it, she'd never slept better than she did that night in the comfort of Peter's arms.
A/N: Thank you guys for all your support! It means a ton that you all enjoy my writing. Be sure to tell me what you think! xoxo
