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Wendy Darling is his.
Peter is very clear on that from the start.
She is a fascinating combination of bravery, defiance, kindness and an adventurous spirit that he enjoys.
She’s also the only one (apart from Felix, on occasion) who will really stand up to him. He admires that even as he works hard to ensure he always wins in their little games.
Because Peter Pan never fails. Peter Pan always wins. Peter Pan always gets what he wants.
And he wants Wendy.
He gives her one chance to leave, when the way she misses her family and gets nervous when she hears the crying at night makes her very nearly boring.
It’s her choice to come back to try and save her friend.
It doesn’t matter that Baelfire is gone – Peter doesn’t give second chances (he normally doesn’t even give first ones) and he’s not going to let his Bird fly away again.
Wendy mopes terribly over her lost friend and Peter can’t have that. Why should his Bird be thinking of some irritating and insignificant boy when she has Peter?
He does everything he can to keep her mind off Baelfire. He shows her the island, teaches her to fly and takes her on adventures every single day.
Sometimes it works – she smiles and laughs and has fun. However, sooner or later she remembers that Baelfire isn’t in Neverland and that she can’t go home.
Then she shouts and screams at him, tells him that she hates him and wants to leave.
He has to lock her in a cage then. It’s for her own good, really. He doesn’t want her to get hurt in a futile, pointless attempt at escaping.
But she only shouts more when he cages her.
And then he gets angry. She belongs to him, like everything in Neverland, and she has no right to complain or wish to go home. He doesn’t understand why she would ever want to leave anyway.
It’s a cycle for a while: have fun until Wendy gets homesick, argue, lock her in a cage for a few days (or weeks) and then eventually she seems to understand that he’s only trying to keep her safe, that there is no use in her trying to leave him.
(at least he likes to think that she understands. The truth that he won’t admit is that she’ll probably always keep fighting to fly away).
Years pass and Wendy grows used to Neverland, begins to think of it as her true and permanent home whether she likes to admit it or not.
And he knows she likes it, knows she loves the adventures and the beauty and the friends she makes.
Of course, he’s not always too pleased about the friends bit.
He is glad that the Lost Boys like her, but he has had to rid himself of a few of them in a rather … bloody manner when they begin to think they are allowed to monopolise his Wendy-Bird’s attention.
(He still hears her cry about Rufio some nights. But he’s always sure to make her forget that traitor’s name soon enough).
The mermaids don’t (usually) try and kill Wendy, which surprises and pleases him considering their bloodthirsty nature. And they’re scared enough of his power that they don’t dare attempt to turn Wendy against him. Still, she’s always wanting to go and visit them when she should be spending time with him and he doesn’t like it, not at all.
Then there are the pirates. He’s not sure how she manages to make friends with them, but she does. He hates it when she flees to the Jolly Roger because she doesn’t want to be around him, but he can at least take his anger out and sate his bloodlust by killing some of Hook’s crew, and the captain himself fears Peter enough that he won’t try to conceal Wendy from him, or do something stupid like try to smuggle her out of Neverland on one of his supply trips. Hook is well aware of just what Peter is capable of, especially when people try to take his things.
The only real problem Peter runs into, aside from Wendy herself, is Tinker Bell.
Tinker Bell keeps aloof from most of the island and she never interferes in any of Peter’s games (fun or more sinister). However, she is fond of Wendy despite the rocky relationship the two had to begin with. She’s always giving Wendy tips to avoid Peter (however silly such an idea is because Peter always knows where everyone is in Neverland), inviting Wendy to her home to get her away from Neverland’s king, and generally fuelling his Bird’s desire to get home.
Peter can’t kill Tinker Bell – even though she’s an ex-fairy without her wings and magic the cursed penalties will still apply if he kills her.
Still, he can’t stand her turning Wendy even further against him. She’s his Bird, his prisoner.
So instead he goes to visit Tink and wraps his hands around her throat until she can barely breathe, until she begs for mercy he doesn’t possess. He reminds her of the perils of going against him and extracts a promise from her that she will severely limit her interaction with Wendy from now on. He might not be able to kill her, he says, but he can make her wish that she was dead.
And if his Bird looks forlorn at her friend’s sudden coldness, well then Peter thinks it’s a small price to pay to ensure Wendy is not further corrupted by Tinker Bell, and to try and get her to understand that Neverland is her home now and forever.
On her first visit Wendy sleeps in an empty tent in the camp.
When she comes to stay permanently Peter thinks it best that she share his tree house – it is comfortable, safe and, of course, ensures he can always keep an eye on her.
Wendy is furious at first. She’s still got those pesky vestiges of propriety and a belief in social roles that have no place in Neverland.
It is beyond frustrating.
To Peter it is perfectly simple. Wendy is his and so she’ll stay with him. There’s only room for one bed, so they’ll share it.
He doesn’t understand why she keeps insisting on privacy and her own space, why she shrieks when he walks in on her undressing and doesn’t turn around, or why she’s so bothered by the fact that he’s always touching her (because her skin is soft and it feels nice and she’s his so why shouldn’t he?).
They play a game, he and Wendy, one where she insists that she hates Neverland and him, and he tries to make her admit that she’s lying, that she loves it all really.
Of course, as in all the games he plays, he has the advantage. Because he knows for sure that Wendy doesn’t really want to leave. She misses the idea of her brothers but she can’t really remember them enough to truly want to see them again. In contrast, Neverland is her whole life and she enjoys the adventures and the freedom and Peter, even if she won’t say it.
He thinks it is easy to win every game he and Wendy play, and he soon finds out that touch helps him with that.
It’s so simple really.
When his Bird sprints off (which happens quite regularly) and tries to outrun him (stupid girl, she never learns) it’s always fun to surprise her just when she thinks she might be clear of him and pin her down to the ground. He snakes one hand up her dress and nips at her neck, and while she protests at first that it’s all wrong (society rules drilled into her head have a lot to answer for) soon enough she’ll admit to enjoying it and he does so love to hear her gasp out his name (“Peter, Peter, Peter”) because only in those too-brief moments will she ever admit the truth – that she is wholly and entirely his.
Peter knows that the rhythm they have will be disturbed one day. He is well aware that when he finds the boy possessing the heart of the truest believer and brings him to Neverland, Wendy will protest against his plans.
Decades in Neverland, decades with him, have not yet removed her warmth and kindness. He thinks nothing ever will.
(he rather thinks he’s glad of that).
Inevitably, she’ll make a fuss about what must be done and he thinks that none of his usual methods of changing her mind will work in this case – she’s so very sensitive about the idea killing people after all.
Perhaps he’ll have to lock his Bird in a cage for a while, just until he deals with the truest believer, only to keep her from hurting herself in some silly attempt to save the boy.
She’ll forgive him eventually. She always does.
He has to keep her safe, though. He won’t have anything that might be a danger to his darling little Wendy-Bird.
Still, for now she can fly free … or at least as free as he will allow her.
He’ll have the heart of the truest believer soon enough. And with that power Neverland will last forever and he will be truly immortal. And then he’ll have his Bird forever too.
He’s looking forward to it.