A/N: Hi! Okay so just some announcements.

1) I'm still trying to figure out formatting on here so on Word I am marking with asterisks where time lapses or where certain sections end but it's not coming through correctly. I promise I'm not trying to be sloppy or confusing at all! I just can't quite get it and I am sure it's super simple but I'm having issues. Sorry for any confusion. :/

2) meguhanu: I think the fangirling will disappear pretty quickly when she sees how much of a liar and manipulator Peter is…..

YouSaid: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it

ElektraMackenzie: Okay I have small confession…I kinda really fangirled when I saw that you had commented on my story because I seriously love your stories so much. Thank you so much for all of the comments and support…I would not have objected to an undressed Peter either… ;)

3) I realized that I haven't stated the obvious yet: I do not own OUAT or any characters in this story besides Lexi.

4) I'm done with announcements, so here enjoy this!

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I slept like a log that night, no dreams or anything. I didn't even notice that Peter had let me have the whole bed to myself or that he had come back later on and pulled more blankets over me. When I awoke I was burrowed down in blankets and pillows so perfectly warm that I had to make a real attempt to get out of the bed. It was more like rolling out, but no one was there to make fun of me. I didn't even bother trying to flatten my hair that was surely looking something like a cockatoo. Since I had cut it so short it had grown rebellious, sticking up and pointing in different directions making me look more like a bird than a pixie. Go figure. Wrapping my blanket around me I sleepily wandered out of the tent looking around for any signs of life. A cluster of boys sat by the fire, another by one of the tents and a third group appeared to be preparing for a hunt.

I spotted Peter talking to the boys by the fire, or what was left of it, and headed towards him. He looked up and stifled a laugh with the back of his hand. The other boys followed his gaze to me and reacted less politely, openly laughing at my appearance.

"Hey, we can't all wake up looking like models. Pass the food, please? I'm starved," I reached for one of plates sitting on a log. A boy who looked my age handed it to me and I thanked him. Hmmm, waffles with plenty of peanut butter. I opened my eyes and began to feast upon the breakfast of my choosing.

"I guess not. Would you like a mirror?" Peter asked still smiling. I shrugged and took a bite of my food.

"Nah, some clothes would be nice though? These ones are getting kinda old," I said with a full mouth. Apparently my not-so-lady-like manners were humorous because it sent the boys into a fit of laughter.

"I bet they would be nice," one boy gasped between laughs.

"Yeah, let's get you changed . . . that would probably be a good idea. Clothes usually are a good idea," Peter replied guiding me back to the tent. I looked at him with a confused face and all he did was point down at my shirt. I was horrified to see that I wasn't wearing one. All I had on was my blanket which was very loosely wrapped around me body revealing an absurd amount of what would be cleavage had I had any real boobs. I was not blessed with big breasts.

I hastily covered up and ran into the tent dropping my plate of food on the way. By this point, the others were staring openly at the events that were playing out. Peter followed me into the tent leisurely and leaned against the door frame crossing his arms across his chest.

"Some privacy please?!" I yelled at him but he didn't move. Instead he looked over his shoulder and snapped his fingers making all noise disappear. Something's not right.

"What odd dreams you have, Lexi," he chuckled stepping closer to me. Self consciously I pulled the blanket even tighter around my shoulders and took a step back nervously.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked. The bed intersected my knees making me sit down ungracefully. Peter kept walking closer casually as if this were totally and completely normal. He leaned in to my face and our cheeks touched.

"Wake up." He whispered into my ear. And I did.

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I woke up panting. I was tangled in my blanket, and only blanket. With shaking and panicked hands I yanked down the blanket and sighed in relief to see that I was wearing clothes. It was just a nightmare. A very, very, very weird nightmare. After a few deep breaths I gathered up enough sense to pinch myself. While the pinch hurt, I had never been more grateful for the pain. This better not be like Inception. As I stood up letting the blanket fall onto the bed in a heap, I noticed a tingly feeling in my legs from sleeping in skinny jeans three nights in a row.

Stepping out of the tent, I saw that most of the boys were huddled in groups talking and playing around. Some were playing dangerous looking games with knives, others were wrestling and the other groups were playing a variety of games or talking. They were all so happy and content here. I wondered if they had forgotten that any other places even existed.

Peter sauntered out of the tent across from me smiling mockingly. No, no, no. That was a dream. I stormed over to him, attracting some amount of attention from the Lost Boys.

"Sleep well, Princess?" He asked in an infuriating tone. He was joking around, but he had invaded my mind.

"You better not have been inside my mind. I'm allowed personal space and my thoughts are out of bounds to you or anyone. So. Get. Out." I hadn't raised my voice even a hair. I could tell that made a few of the other boys nervous.

"Nothing is out of bounds, not in a game like this. I approve of your decision to wear clothes, by the way. Very smart of you," he was pushing me to see how much I could handle. I had miles to go before I broke, though.

"You're in for a surprise, then. I think you'll find it takes a little more than petty dream invasion to get under my skin," I had straightened up to my full height making us almost the same. His eyes flashed dangerously, a warning to quit before it was too late, but all I did was raise an eyebrow in response. Your move, Peter.

"Is that a challenge?" He asked clearly. The Lost Boys around us had backed up forming an arena for our battle of words.

"No, it's a fact. I'm a tough girl, I think I can handle some games from an eternally immature boy," I spat back at him. Our eyes held each other, both refusing to back down first. A small smirk crept on to his face as he raised a hand to hold my cheek. I didn't flinch or make any response to the action, instead choosing to smirk myself.

"Oh, it's been a while since anyone has tried to fight back. I'd almost forgotten what it meant to break someone's spirit. You will prove to be a fun toy indeed." He was praising me, thanking me for not succumbing so easily.

"I'm no toy. I'm not some obstacle for you to defeat. This is me setting boundaries that you will respect. I will never break. Have fun playing with your toy soldiers, I won't be joining you." I glared at him but spoke calmly. He cocked his head to one side squinting as if trying to see me clearly.

"I guess we'll see about that. We do have forever, and as a friend of mine once said: forever is an awfully long time." Wendy. My face betrayed no hint of shock or any emotion besides carelessness.

"I guess so."

"Peter! We found Hook's treasure!" A voice interrupted our war. The voice belonged to Slightly who was running from the forest into the arena excitedly. He stopped suddenly, becoming aware that he had just walked into a very tense situation. Peter turned to him, breaking eye contact, and glared. The boy stepped back into the group and hid himself behind an older boy mumbling apologies. Peter looked back to me to see a smug grin.

"Play nice, boys." I said simply before turning to walk back into Peter's tent in a hunt for clothes. We were about the same size, right?

"Where's the treasure?" I heard Peter ask after a length of time. Sounds of preparation and excited yells soon destroyed the tension that had built up. Within five minutes the camp had fallen silent and I assumed they had all left to steal the treasure.

I rummaged through his drawers until I found dark pants and a loose fitting shirt. They were surprising comfortable and though they were a bit big, I was able to adjust them with a belt I found and some skilled knotting. I strapped on my converse with a smile. By looking into the mirror leaning against a wall I decided I looked like the others. From the back I could easily pass for one of the Lost Boys, which was exactly what I wanted. The harder it was for them to see my differences the more likely they were to treat me equally.

I added a few final touches and walked confidently out of the tent expecting the camp to be empty. Sure enough, it appeared deserted and I was grateful for the silence.

"You changed, I like it," Ruffio said. I hadn't even noticed him sitting on a log on the edge of camp. He was perfectly camouflaged in his dark green attire and hood pulled over his head. I jumped slightly at his sudden presence.

"Privacy is a commodity, huh?" I asked settling down on the ground by the tree next to him. When he looked down at me the fuzzy warmth returned and I laughed quietly to myself.

"What?" he asked self consciously.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about how weird this place has turned out to be. Did you see Peter earlier? Is he always like that, so controlling?" I was poking the ground with a stick not looking at Ruffio.

"I heard about it, the boys were saying that they had never seen Peter so calm in the face of someone as obnoxious as you were. Peter's not so bad, when you get used to him," he said.

"Yeah well I don't wanna get used to him. I want him to respect me. He acts like he owns everyone and everything here, like we should all worship the ground he walks on. I'm sorry but I don't buy it." I was trying to put my frustration into words.

"He does."

"Does what?"

"Own us. We sold ourselves to Peter Pan the minute we decided to stay on this island. Nothing happens without Peter's knowledge. He takes care of us, he's the good guy. Without him we would all be back in hell." Ruffio's voice sounded far off, like he was remembering why he'd left home. "Surely you can relate, I mean no one comes to Neverland that doesn't need to." He looked at me expectantly but I had no reply for him.

The life I'd left wasn't hell at all. Sure there had been obstacles and trials, but nothing was perfect. I realized that Peter had saved these boys; he was helping them. I felt like a spoiled child. Who was I to pretend and understand what any of these boys had gone through?

"There's a difference between a savior and a slave master. Don't let him fool you into thinking you deserve to be owned. Nothing is worth giving up your freedom for."

"You don't know what you're talking about," his brows furrowed and he stood up towering over me. I opened my mouth but he cut me off, suddenly furious, "Peter saved me, all of us. What we have here is freedom. We can play and be young forever! Don't you see? We never have to face adult problems or grow up. We can have anything we want as long as we imagine it! Anything! Peter is not the tyrant you think he is; understand that! He is good! Swallow your pride and realize what a wonderful place Neverland is. It's a blessing and Peter is the hero who saved us. Your boundaries are imaginary, they don't mean a thing if Peter doesn't want them to. It's a small sacrifice for the choice you've made to stay in Neverland. If you don't like it, well that sucks because you aren't going anywhere." He was shouting down at me and I could do nothing but let him get his rage out.

"Ruffio, I'm so-" He walked off before I could finish my sentence. You've outstayed your welcome. Neverland is not where you belong.

I walked back to the tent fighting back tears. Don't you dare cry. After changing back into the clothes I had arrived in and folding up the old ones, I made the bed and marched out of camp. I looked back just once trying to imprint the image of the camp into my mind. Do not cry. Crying is a weakness.

"Thanks, Neverland, I guess there's no such thing as perfect, huh?" I whispered to myself.

"Well, there is me." Peter's voice was the last thing I wanted to hear right now. He stood directly in front of me with his hands on his hips.

"I'm leaving. You've won. I don't belong here; I can't accept this life like the boys because I haven't experienced enough pain." I didn't look at him. If admitting defeat is what I needed to do for him to leave me alone, then I'd swallow my pride and do it.

"You misunderstand the purpose of Neverland. It's not a place for those who've suffered to find refuge."

"It doesn't matter what it is. It's not for me. I thought it was what I wanted, but I was wrong. I'm leaving." I walked pass him. He tsked at me before sticking his arm in front of my body to stop me from walking any further.

"You can't."

"I made it here without your approval. I can leave if I want, too. It looks like you finally found a person you can't control." I looked at him evenly. I wasn't gloating or trying to rub anything in his face, but I knew I had a point. That's why I was taken aback to see that he was chuckling to himself.

"Allow me to rephrase. You can't leave alive." I squinted my eyes at him.

"Is that a threat? I'd rather die than stay here in misery."

"Don't make promises you don't intend to keep," Peter replied. The deadly glint had returned to his eyes. His grip tightened around my arm and he pulled me in front of him to clutch my shoulders painfully. I winced and struggled to free myself, but he was much stronger than me and we both knew it. We were walking backwards until my back collided with a tree. He leaned in close, like he had in the dream.

"Besides, the fun has just begun." He whispered into my ear. His breath tickled and a shiver ran through my body. I turned to look at his face fearful for what was going to happen next. His hands moved from my shoulders to cup my face and he stared into my eyes with an unmistakable intensity. He became angry, suddenly slamming his fist into the tree next to my head.

"Damn you, Lexi!" He shouted into my face. I cowered away, unsure of what had brought on the aggression or how to calm him down. My mouth opened and closed over and over again making me look like a fish.

"I-I'm s-sorry," I stuttered. He moved one hand around my throat and the other tangled itself into my hair pulling my face to look at his. The grip on my throat was almost nonexistent, but the hand sat there as warning. I could see a struggle going on in his eyes. He was torn over something I couldn't understand.

His lips were on mine before I knew what was happening. They were gentler than I would have thought, but a certain greediness was undeniable. I kissed back carefully, hopefully, I wanted him to calm down again. I could handle frustration and determination, but not aggression. He pulled away as quickly as he had approached and turned away from me.

"Leave me," he sounded heartbroken. I wanted to console him and give him a hug, but all I could do was obey his single wish.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what for but I'm sorry," I said quietly as I backed away slowly.

"LEAVE ME!" he shouted and that's exactly what I did.

A/N: Trust me, this is not where you think it's going.