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Normal was a rarity on Neverland, but today was about as normal as one could get. There were no villains to be defeated, no natural disasters to prepare for, and no treasure to be found. For once, the residents of Pirate Island were able to just relax in their hideout.
This, of course, created the perfect atmosphere for another petty fight.
Izzy walked into the map room to find Cubby and Jake sitting at the table. Jake had his head down in distress and Cubby was giving him a blank look.
“What’s going on with Jake?” Izzy asked as she took her own seat at the table.
“My Kentucky heritage made his brain explode,” Cubby explained as if he were simply commenting on the weather.
Izzy blinked a few times, “I’m going to need more details than that. If this is about potatoes again-“
“It’s not,” Cubby cut her off, “See, in my family, I was told not to say ‘good-bye’. We say ‘I love you, good-bye’.”
Jake’s head shot up, “You can’t just say that!”
“I mean, clearly I just did,” Cubby smiled a bit, “Besides, I love you like a brother, so it’s not like it’s a lie.”
Jake looked at Cubby as if the boy had asked him to unbake a cake. After a moment of dumbfounded silence, he shouted, “No!”
“Ouch.”
“No, not like that! I-“ Jake groaned and ran a hand through his hair, “That phrase is sacred, okay? You can’t just give it out like candy!”
“Tell that to my granny,” Cubby half teased.
“Woah woah woah, hold up,” Izzy held her hand out and looked at Jake, “What do you mean ‘I love you’ is sacred?”
Jake gave her a deadpanned look, “Really? You’ve seen my father. That man is colder than Ch-Ch-Chilly Canyon and you’re surprised he taught me to view that phrase highly?”
Izzy shrugged, “Makes sense. I’m surprised you ended up so kind, honestly.”
“My dad worked hard to make sure I didn’t end up like him. Besides, he wasn’t raising me alone.”
“Fair enough,” Izzy leaned back in her chair, “My family was kind of in the middle. ‘I love you’s’ weren’t given out super liberally to friends and strangers, but you couldn’t go a day without hearing it from family. Though I guess technically we never said ‘I love you’.”
“Wait what?” Cubby did a double take, “But you just said-“
Jake held up his hand, “Hold on.”
Izzy smirked, “We said ’te amo’.”
“There it is,” Jake lowered his hand.
Just then, there was a familiar jingling sound. All three kids looked around for the source of the noise.
“Tink said that the fairy version of ‘I love you’ can’t be replicated by human vocal cords.”
Everyone turned to the back corner of the room to see Peter floating there as if he’d been there for ages. Tinkerbell was fluttering by his head.
“Peter!” Cubby exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”
Peter looked equally confused, “I…live here?”
“You live in Hangman’s Tree,” Izzy corrected.
“Oh yeah,” Peter nodded, “That makes more sense.”
Shadow took that moment to poke his head out from behind Peter. He floated along the walls until he was directly behind Jake.
’Hello. Sign Lesson?’ Shadow signed clumsily.
Jake smiled. He signed as he spoke, “Yeah! Have you been practicing since last time?”
“He sure has,” Peter floated over to the table, a large smile on his face, “He’s been super chatty ever since he got the hang of finger spelling.”
“Huh, I wonder,” Cubby tilted his head, “How do you say ‘I love you’ in sign?”
“Oh that’s easy. It’s just I,” Jake pointed to himself, “Love,” He crossed his hands palm down over his chest, “You” He pointed to Cubby.
“Aww,” Cubby cooed teasingly, “I love you too, Jake.”
There was a moment of confusion. Then Jake blushed bright red.
“Wait…N-No! That doesn’t-! You can’t just-! I was just-!” Jake sputtered before letting out a distressed sound and putting his head down on the table. He hid in his arms.
“Cubby,” Peter tried to scold, but couldn’t keep the amusement off his face, “That wasn’t very nice.”
Cubby gave a sheepish look, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be mean.”
Jake lifted his head just enough to look at Cubby, “‘S okay.”
Behind him, Shadow cackled.
Jake turned around and gave him a rude sign.
“In all seriousness,” Cubby placed a hand on Jake’s arm, “Don’t worry about saying ‘I love you’ back. Like I said, it’s more of an automatic thing for me and I don’t want you to feel like you have to say something you’re not comfortable with.”
Jake ducked his head, “I…I don’t know if I can say it just yet.”
“And you don’t have to,” Izzy assured, “We know you care about us, even without you having to say a word. You show it every day.”
A small smile graced Jake’s face, “Thanks mateys.”
…
That night, as the crew settled into bed, Cubby called out a “Night mateys, love you.” After an echo of “good nights”, he could’ve sworn he heard a small “Love you too,” from Jake’s bunk.