James Hook

To James,

I'm glad it's you. I love you!

With love, Tina x ❤ ]

to my beloved Wife to be, I hope you will have a wonderful Valentine’s day. Greetings James & Mary & Anne

@xaspiringbeamoflightx​

~

Tina nodded enthusiastically, throwing herself on James for another hug and a quick kiss. A date was obviously easier to process than engagement, but it didn’t make her heart beat any slower. A hundred and one questions and thoughts were running through her head and she had to try, with difficulty, to not completely freak herself out. She would not worry about how to tell anyone else, especially not Peter right now, and– Oh dear God, Aunt Mary… Nope! Not thinking about that!

"I like that idea, Mr Bell,” Tina cooed, running her hands across his shoulders. She remembered he had been very tense a moment ago, and didn’t want either of them to leave the room to return to the stress of the hotel. “No dine-and-dash’s though. I don’t think you could run fast enough in the snow. Maybe we should have a nap first though, I’d like to not fall asleep at the dinner table after this.”

-

James enjoyed the contact of their lips against each other. The friction of the hug. It made him not wanting to let go but eventually, they'd have to return to Neverland and work. Before that happened however James took the moment to open the ring box and take Tina's hand gently before sliding the ring on her finger. "Thank god it's a fit." He guessed her size based on his mother's ring.

~

“James Bell… Mr. James Hook-Bell… Yeah, I think that works,” Tina agreed, her lips finding a gentle smile again. She was trying to ignore how weird this whole thing was, but apparently had started fidgeting with one of the buttons of James’ shirt for something to do with her hands again. It would probably click properly in a few days time what was actually happening right now, when they weren’t both exhausted and nervous as heck.

A bashful giggle escaped her lips and her nose wrinkled; every time James said he loved her felt all squirmy inside, more-so than usual because he did say it all the time, and it only made her slightly squirmy before.

Her eyes lit up at the mention of a date, and she gasped, hands flying to cover her mouth. “A date?!“ Tina asked, apparently way too excited by the idea. She liked to think the dine-and-dash’s with Peter counted as dates, but she knew in her heart they didn’t. Like a giddy child, she grabbed James by the shirt again and pulled herself right up in his face. "Like a real date? I’ve never been on a date. That’s embarrassing! I’m getting married, and I’ve never been on a real date, what the fuck?

-

James nodded. He had tested the name out for a while and he could honestly say he'd get used to it rather easily. For him it was a logical step to take but he could imagine thid to be rather new to Tina. She did that thing again where her hands could not be still. It was yet another one of her endearing traits. Jamed came to a point where Tina was simply adorable and so easy to love. 

Every time Tina said she loved him his heart started to haller in his chest like a hummingbird flapping their wings. He felt warm and loved and that was all James wanted. 

"A date." James repeated and he had to chuckle at her excitement. Had Peter known earlier he would have taken her to plenty of dates but there was little chance to be public around one another before so they never were able to have a proper date. "In fact fiance of mine after the power gets back on I will take you out for a dinner date. If they are open again." He promised her.

~

“Oh, I forgot that was a thing,” Tina grimaced, the hint of a shiver running up her spine with a sudden bout of nerves. But she nodded in understanding at his reasoning and considered very carefully. Tina had to admit to herself that she liked his name -James Hook- because she hadn’t ever thought about him being called anything else. Hook was all she had known him as for a very long. Tina decided to try his name on for size, just in case.

“Tina Hook,” she stated, and recoiled. Nope. It was totally foreign. She liked her own name too much too and would happily agree to Mr. Bell instead. “Okay, shit, yeah, you can have mine. My name is way better than yours! No offence.” A light blush traced her nose, panicking that she was about to shove her foot right in her mouth and ruin the moment.

“You’ve really thought about this a lot, haven’t you?”

-

James nodded, though he had been thinking about it carefully ever since he planned to propose to Tina. There was a bundle of nerves that came with the whole name thing. He'd still keep a part of his name, the Hook would still be attached to it only for the sake of business. But he liked the idea of taking his bride to be, her name.

"James Bell doesn't sound too bad." He agreed. "Though in business it probably will be Mr. James Hook - Bell." Because he did intended to keep her name even in business. It just showed they belonged together, he wouldn't throw that away for anything.

At the question if he thought a lot about it he couldn't contain a bright grin. 

"Tina I loved you before you loved me. And I'm a simple man, truly." He began. "The moment you told me you loved me, I knew I that I couldn't wait any longer. I want to take you out on dates publicly this time, show you off to the world and treat you like no one has ever treated you before."

~

“This is why I’m not a chef,” Tina replied, as if the fact that she didn’t know chef traditions was the thing keeping her from working in a professional kitchen. She was relieved that James had the sense to discard of the spoon, and all the other evidence of her… meal. Tina feigned offence again, rolling her eyes, knowing fine well that if James wasn’t supervising the only pizza she would be making would be frozen.

“Good to know,” Tina replied thoughtfully, before the hint of a laugh played on the corner of her lips. “If I ate a pineapple and then we made out after and I forgot to tell you, would you die or would your tongue just swell up? What’s the severity level here?” Tina, by chance, was allergic to kiwi, but the reaction was more often very red, itchy skin and a slightly swollen tongue.

-

“Clearly.” James agreed. He knows he should be a little nicer to his wife to be but it was simply too much fun to tease her sometimes. She had some chores in the kitchen, but cooking wasn’t often one of them - with reasons. He had seen how she had managed those cupcakes a year ago.

“I honestly wouldn’t know, with my allergy i tend to well undergo some unpleasant things that shouldn’t be discussed when we are thinking of making a meal.” A lot of unpleasant things.

~

Tina’s mouth drooped open at the playful insult. “I can’t help that they had a better influence than me,” she replied, giving James an equally playful poke on the side. Tina looked at the spoon, nose turning up at the very sight of the concoction. “I was never really into following traditions,” she laughed (though it wasn’t strictly in all cases.) “Don’t they also always say that the guest should be the first to eat and all that?” Tina pushed the spoon toward James again.

“I did buy actual real ingredients but they forgot to give me the instruction manual,” Tina replied, picking up a stray broccoli floret that had survived being thrown in her pot and waving it around. Given her severe lack of cooking talent, she didn’t think James would manage to come up with anything. She was pretty sure he knew witchcraft at this point. “What’re we gonna make?” Tina asked, emphasis on the we.

-

James shook his head, he wasn’t sure about that. But he hoped that he was having a good influence on the girls especially now Ian couldn’t be the father he wanted to be for them. Anne and Mary seemed to have grown attached to both him and Tina, Mary often asked when Tina comes over to play again while Anne was more attached to him. She often was plagued by nightmares, something James could relate to so they often guarded eachother. “of course you aren’t.” James chuckled. “And no, it’s mostly the chef that does.” He took the spoon and threw the food away.

“We are gonna make pizza, thats simple enough for you to help me with.” He cheekly added. “That and you get to pick your own toppings . Oh but no pineapple on mine, i’m allergic.”

~

“I mean, I can still help!” Tina insisted, though how much she could actually do was questionable at this point. “You know, sprinkle a lil garnish or two in there. Boil the water…” She was a little annoyed at herself that she had to even ask for help, but at this rate they were going to starve (and Tina really enjoyed when James cooked for her). She took James by the arm, pulling him into the god-almighty mess she had made.

“Good question… When I said it was gonna be a surprise, I meant it was a surprise for both of us.” Apparently you actually had to know a thing or two about cooking before you could wing it in the kitchen, and Tina knew exactly nothing. It was a wonder she hadn’t died, given that she basically lived off cereal and chicken nuggets. Tina snorted a laugh, opening the pot lid. “Wanna try it?”

-

“I have a feeling Anne and Mary would have been a better help than you my love.” He poked her cheek with a sweet chuckle and looked at the mess she created. “You know what they say don’t you - a chef always tries their own creation first.” He took a spoon and scraped whatever this was supposed to be and held it in front of her. “Go on, take a bite.”

He put the pan into the sink so he could clean it. “Lets see what I’m working with.” It was a surprise to him that Tina had enough vegetables in the house. Guess he’d go with a nice soup. As for the rest of the meal, he decided on pizza. Luckily he knew how to make the dough but they’d have to go get some toppings. “Lets go to the store first to get some ingredients.”

~

Tina grimaced, trying to think of the best way to describe whatever the fuck she had down to the poor pot. “Hm, okay, so… As it turns out, you can’t actually cover up the taste of burning food by adding more spices. And once you’ve put spices in there’s really no way of getting them back out again.” Everything she tried to make it better proved fatal to the dish. Why had she chosen something complicated? She should have just stuck to the bloody pasta and a jar of sauce! It hadn’t even occurred to her that she had cooked for Peter last Valentine’s Day, probably because she had conveniently blocked everything that happened in the hospital and around that time.

“There’s like a 98% chance you’ll die if you eat it, is what I’m saying.”

-

Burned food.check. trying to cover it up with spices. unexpected but not really. It was what James had expected. He could totally see Tina try a dish that was out of her comfortzone and well totally mess it up. This was probably why he would be the one cooking throughout this marriage. A smile came on his features from the idea alone. He was turning into a housewife, or houseman. He looked at her as she rambled, trying to explain that the dish didn’t turn out as she had planned to.

“In other words you can sit down and I’ll make use of your kitchen. What was it that you were trying to make?”

-

chelsea had been out collecting some photos for the newspaper after the snowstorm had hit. something about the whole ordeal seemed bizarre. first the blue light, then the power went out and then the snowstorm hit. in all of chelsea’s time at redwood hollow, she’d never experienced any of that.  she wasn’t far off when she james “be careful, the snowstorm’s blown a load of stuff arounf the town. don’t want to you getting hurt”

@jamestheneverlandhook​

-

“Thanks for the warning, I got a bit distracted.” That and he hadn’t expected a trashcan to be laying in the middle of the road, he moved to pick it up and the trash he could find scattered around it and placed it back where it belonged. “The city will have some time on their hands getting things back in order.” James muttered. He still had to head back to work, though he was considering closing the Neverland hotel so that his staff could get a break.

Lucius had been seconds away from yelling out a warning when he bumped into the trashcan. Snooze you lose, huh? He half-jogged to finish closing the distance between them. “Hey man, are you alright? I did the exact same thing this morning leaving my place. Redwood’s gonna have to make up a dedicated ‘freak weather’ clean up crew or something. Mother nature does not care for any man’s shins, I can tell you that for free.”

-

James didn’t lose his balance so everything was alright. Though this could be dangerous, and should be adressed to the major. The major who had yet to give compensation for him hoarding the town in his hotel. Which was about TIME. Especially with how tired everyone was afterwards. He didn’t even manage to take his fiancé out on that date because they both just ended up floored. “You certainly are right about that. Mother nature doesn’t care about anything if I’m thinking about it.”

~

Again, Tina’s arms slid around James’ shoulders, pulling herself to sit a little more comfortably when it became obvious they weren’t moving from the floor any time soon.  She didn’t want to move for multiple reasons. It was nice being held, and they were clearly both exhausted from the past three days. If they moved the likelihood of having to go and do more work increased and that would ruin the moment.

Tina frowned at the question. “What do you mean?” she asked. It hadn’t occurred to her that marriage would involve taking someone else’s name. Sure, she considered herself the authority on weddings and stuff among the Lost Boys, but her idea of it all was just as skewed as theirs was. It wasn’t like she had actually been to a real wedding, or had any experience of a healthy marriage (or relationship for that matter.) “What’s wrong with your name?”

-

"What I mean is that when we get married normally the wife would take the husbands name but-" He didn't want that. He didn't want Tina's name to be stained with a family as cruel as his. "I don't really like my name. I don't like the family that's attached to it so maybe we can do it reversed and have me take up your name. I wouldn't mind being Mr. Bell Instead of you being Ms. Hook." It was just him dreaming about the future. It's what kept him going. He had to check on the twins soon, though he knew they were in save hands they'd miss him if he was gone too long. And it had been long days.

~

“I love you, James…” Tina whispered. It still felt odd on her tongue. She had only just learned to say it, and now she was saying it again. And she wanted to say it over and over and over until she was blue in the face, because any time she had ever told someone that she loved them it was dismissed. It felt weird but it was right.

Tina took her thumb and ran it over James’ cheek where a tear had spilled, then wiped her own cheek with the back of her hand. What a ridiculous sight this must be, crying in a heap on the floor in the dark. Tina felt quite ridiculous that she had even cried at all, but didn’t she always? She was thankful for the candles and the closed door, at least.

Tina took the little cup and sat it neatly on the floor beside them (she didn’t want it to break, and it was totally in her way now). With that, she took his face in her hands and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. And then another, and another. “What a day, huh?”

"I love you too." Tina still might not have any idea how much those words meant to him. Especially coming from her. She was the first he said those words to, because she was the first one he loved. All he had throughout his life was empty love, people holding him without feelings involved. All of that had changed and it finally was sinking in. 

He smiled softly as Tina wiped away his tears, it made him want to nuzzle in the crook of her neck and hold her close. He heard a soft tud and realized that it the cup. James had already forgotten she was holding it.

He enjoyed the kisses she offered him, and his smiled widened when she said: 'What a day, huh?' because it truly was.