WHITE COLLAR KINK MEME ROUND 3
THE RULES HAVE CHANGED - Please read them.
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* If you post a prompt, post a fill. It's only fair. Prompts can be responded to an infinite number of times.
* Post prompts / requests anonymously. <- This will be enforced.
* If you like a fill, say so.
* No bashing. no bashing means NO BASHING: no judgmental comments, *hints* at judgmental comments, or ( Read more... )
This is the father/son + nightmares combo ;)
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Peter glanced at the kitchen clock and let out a long sigh. 2:04 AM. He grabbed the steaming mug of milk and made his way into the semi-dark living room of his house, where his unexpected visitor was sitting at the table, patiently awaiting his return.
“Here,” he put the mug in front of the man and took a seat directly opposite him.
“Warm milk? What am I? Ten?”
“Yes, on some occasions,” Peter answered, clearly amused by that statement. “No coffee or wine in the middle of the night. Besides, this was my father’s remedy for any headache, back pain, sore muscle, bruise, cut, heartache, soul troubles… you name it. Combined with the secret ingredient it works like a charm!” He watched his younger companion shake his head with a smile and take a sip of the warm beverage. He really did look like a kid, with his ruffled hair and unruly locks falling on his forehead… and those huge blue eyes, somewhat tired, sad, currently focused on the mug with a faint sparkle of hope that maybe it really was some magic potion that would make all the troubles in the world disappear. It was one of those rare occasions when Peter could read him like an open book.
“So… Neal… care to explain why I found you camping on my door steps at 2 in the morning?”
Neal just shrugged and put the mug down. “You weren’t suppose to find me.”
“You can thank Satchmo for that. You’ve spoiled him so much that he can now sense you coming from a mile away. And he knows how to effectively express his enthusiasm.” Peter waited for Neal to answer his question but Neal just kept his gaze on the mug and remained silent.
“Neal?”
“I went for a walk and somehow ended up here. I decided to take a break before walking all the way back.”
“Come on, Neal, don’t do this. We’ve been playing this game for almost a week now. Your merry-go-round act at the office might fool the others, but not me.” And it was true, Neal was an enigma for the most part, but they’ve been spending enough time together for Peter to learn his way around this uncharted territory and be able to detect the subtle changes in the weather pattern before the storm hit. He also knew that getting Neal to open up was like trying to break a thick prison wall with a ridiculously small rock hammer, but Peter figured that if Andy Dufresne could to do it, then so could he, hopefully within the next 20 hours and not 20 years. “You came here, so talk to me, Neal. You have to talk to someone. If not me then--”
“Peter, I’m fine, I just felt like going for a walk.” Neal rubbed at his tired eyes and then finally looked at Peter. “It’s been a long week, an important case… I’ll be as good as new on Monday. You can’t tell me you’re not dying for a few days of good old mortgage fraud cases?” Neal served the agent a convincing grin and took a few more sips of his milk. He finally put down the mug and stood up. “Thank you. And I’m really sorry for this. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Yeah. Not gonna happen, buddy.” Peter launched himself from the table and blocked Neal’s way to the front door. “You don’t wanna talk now? Fine. But you can barely keep your eyes open and I’m not letting you wander across the city in the middle of the night. So take your pick: guest bedroom or your beloved couch here.”
“No, Peter, I-“ It was probably the most unconvincing protest in the history of mankind, because the minute the agent had mentioned the couch, there was a flash of such intense relief and gratitude in Neal’s eyes and though it lasted only for a fraction of a second, Peter caught it immediately. He may not have broken the wall yet, but he sure made a small crack.
“You’re staying here for the night, even if it means I have to tie you up and cuff you to a bed.” Peter turned Neal towards the stairs and waited for him to make up his mind, keeping both of his hands on his friend’s shoulders.
“Peter, I didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff. Talking about still waters…”
“Caffrey.”
“Couch.”
“Good boy.”
..ooOoo..
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“Peter! No!”
“Neal, wake up! It’s okay, wake up!” Peter kept repeating these words over and over again, hovering over his partner, shaking him until the message finally got through and Neal shot up to a sitting position, slamming into Peter’s chest. It was unexpected, it happened too fast for the agent to move and Neal was too confused and too terrified to even register that he was currently using his friend’s body for support. Whether it was the heavy and erratic breathing, the trembling or the fact that Neal had been screaming his name for a good minute - Peter wasn’t sure, but something made him put his hand on the kid’s head. He buried his fingers in Neal’s sweat-damped hair and waited for his partner to calm down.
“Peter?” Neal was nowhere near calm but he rather quickly became aware of the fact that he had his face buried in Peter’s t-shirt, so he pushed himself away from the agent, despite the comforting hand on his head. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
“Easy, it’s okay. It was just a dream, you’re safe.” Peter moved a bit when Neal began to struggle against the comforter but when he finally managed to untangle himself and was about to get up, the agent put a hand on the kid’s chest to stop him. As soon as the palm of his hand connected with Neal’s t-shirt, Peter could feel how dangerously fast his friend’s heart was beating. “Okay, you need to calm down first, just breathe. Let me get you a glass of water.”
“No!” Neal grabbed Peter’s arm but immediately released it. ”Just… I’m not thirsty, I’m okay, sorry.”
“Yeah, you’re okay,” Peter responded in a sarcastic tone. Neal closed his eyes and let his head fall against the back of the couch. He made no attempt to push Peter’s hand away, so the agent just kept it there, feeling Neal’s chest rise and fall as the younger man worked on getting his breathing under control. “Why didn’t you tell me about the nightmares? It wasn’t just this once, am I right?”
Neal kept his eyes closed and didn’t say a word. They sat in silence for a while until Peter thought Neal was about to fall asleep again. He wondered whether he should help him lay down again or just let him sit and rest and finally decided on the latter. He removed his hand from Neal’s chest and grabbed the tumbled comforter. He shook it out slightly and was about to cover Neal with it when the kid grabbed his arm again and this time he didn’t let go right away.
“No,” he whispered.
“No to the comforter or no, it wasn’t the first time you had a nightmare?”
“Can’t sleep,” Neal answered and covered his face with his hands, carefully, tightly, as if he was putting on a temporary replacement for all the usual invisible masks he wore every day, masks that held the confident “I’m fine” image in place while hiding the whirlwind of emotions beneath the surface. “And no, I don’t want to talk about it, not now. Now I just want to… sleep… somehow… I need sleep. But I can’t.”
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Anyways, I really look forward to the next parts to this story. TOOOO CUTE!!
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Neal felt Peter’s hand leave his head again as the agent got up from the couch and walked away. He immediately let his hands fall down onto his lap and opened his eyes, searching frantically for his friend and feeling more relieved than he would ever be willing to admit when he saw Peter walking back towards the couch with a mug in his hand.
“Here.”
“We’re back to the milk?” Neal asked and took the mug from Peter’s hand.
“Yeah. It’s cold now but it’s still good. Drink,” Peter ordered and pushed away the comforter so that it was tumbled on one half of the couch, leaving just enough space for Peter to sit next to Neal. The younger man took a sip of his milk and watched the agent settle himself as close to him as possible, stretch out his legs and put them on the coffee table in front of them. They sat shoulder in shoulder for a minute, Neal sipping his milk and Peter trying to figure out the best way to say what he wanted to say.
“You know why I like rules and protocols so much?” Peter asked casually, finally breaking the silence.
“I guess it comes with the job,” Neal responded with a sigh.
“I like rules and protocols because they help minimize the risk, Neal. There’s a certain degree of… unpredictability in everything we do. Whether we go to work, drive our car, do our laundry or sleep in our bed, there are always things beyond our control.”
“Peter-“ Neal tried to interrupt Peter’s disquisition but the agent wouldn’t let him.
“Shut up, drink your milk and listen.” Peter turned to Neal and put both of his hands on the kid’s shoulders. “I know I’m not exactly reinventing the wheel here, I know that you know all of this but sometimes it’s difficult to focus on the things we can change when it’s the uncontrollable part that almost screws up everything. And then it’s good to have someone who will state the obvious out loud, who will remind you that you… that we did everything humanly possible to minimize the risk.” Peter crooked his head to meet Neal’s slightly downcast gaze. “We did everything by the book. Backup, perimeter check, bulletproof vest that stopped the bullet. We’re here, alive and well, safe. We did good. You hear me?”
“Yeah,” Neal’s voice was barely a whisper but he kept his gaze on Peter, looking at the agent with wide shiny eyes, grateful and desperate and so tired. “Thank you… for saving me then… for stating the obvious… now.”
“Always, Neal,” Peter couldn’t help but smile, thankful for this small victory, but the his face became serious again. “Neal, you know you still have to talk about this. You can always talk to me but I think making an appointment with Dr. Green at the Bureau would be a good idea, too. Trust me, she can help you. She did help me. Will you at least try it?”
Neal didn’t say anything this time. Peter saw the hesitation in those huge pools of blue and was relieved when Neal slowly nodded, willing to at least try to do it Peter’s way.
“Good.” This time Peter’s smile stayed on a bit longer. Definitely a crack in the wall. He wondered if there was some kind of magnet in his hand and Neal’s head because for the third time that night his fingers ended up in the kid’s hair. In normal circumstances Neal would have probably accuse him of attempted murder of his perfect hairstyle but that night was anything but normal and they both knew it.
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“Yeah, among others. But the first time someone did that… that was my dad,” Peter said with a smile and looked at Neal, then at his mug. “Two days after he got out of the hospital he found me in the kitchen in the middle of the night… and he sat me down on an old chair, handed me a mug of his ‘remedy’ and told me that there was nothing he or anyone else could have done to avoid that car accident. ’Just stick to the rules, keep minimizing the risk and let the uncontrollable pieces fall where they fall. And you’ll be fine’.”
Neal listened to Peter’s words, tightening his grip on the mug, not really sure how to respond to the message hidden in that one simple answer. There he was, a con sitting shoulder in shoulder with an FBI agent who for some reason gave him a chance and kept looking out for him and took a bullet for him despite all the trust issues and secrets and disagreements between them. Who invited him into his house in the middle of the night and stayed with him and showed him that he finally had someone who gave a damn, who gave him milk and told him that in a way he was family. All he had to do was accept it. Without a word he drank the rest of the milk in one gulp put the empty mug on the coffee table.
“You’re gonna try and get some sleep?”
“I don’t know,” Neal answered hesitantly. “I’m so tired but… I don’t know, let me just sit here… for a while.”
“Okay. You mind if I stretch out my arm behind you? I think it’s the one thing that has actually fallen asleep here.” Peter didn’t wait for an answer and within seconds Neal’s back was partially resting against his arm.
“Peter, you don’t have to sit here with me.”
“You know I can’t really sleep when El’s away. You mind if I flip through some channels? There’s gotta be some game on.”
“It’s your house, Peter. Knock yourself out.”
“Good.” Peter grabbed the remote, he turned down the sound and switched to a sports channel, occasionally glancing at his partner who carefully stretched out his legs and slid a bit down on the couch, letting out an almost content sigh when his head came to rest comfortably against Peter’s arm.
..ooOoo..
The correlation between sports and Neal was something Peter had always found amusing. The better the game, the faster his art oriented friend became bored. So it was really no surprise that a marathon of the best games of the past season had Neal practically comatose within 10 minutes. The agent didn’t move when Neal’s breath evened out and his head slowly found its way to Peter’s shoulder. He moved his arm, wrapping it gently around Neal and bringing him closer when the kid began shifting and mumbling something incoherent. He let out a long sigh when somehow the dark clouds in Neal’s dream didn’t change into a full storm and he was once again breathing evenly against Peter’s shoulder, clutching at Peter’s t-shirt with one hand. He switched off the TV and pulled the comforter over them, letting his head fall back and finally closing his eyes. How on earth did he end up here? Peter let his mind wander back to the day he brought the bottle to prison and agreed to let his life be turned upside down, he thought about solving the toughest cases, the long hours at the office that somehow weren’t always exhausting, about Italian roast, food sampling and dinners at his house, about the bickering and serious falling-outs and saving each other’s asses… and somehow camping on a couch under one comforter didn’t seem that strange after all. And with that thought Peter tightened his arm around Neal and finally let the sleep claim him.
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Oh, and it was genius for you to have Peter drawing parallels between his own father and himself, and then he and Neal. Gotta love that father/son love! :D I know I do!
Thank you for this great fill-in, once more! Three snuggling fics in a row - it was almost an overkill of generosity ;)
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As for suggestions... dunno, maybe, good old "Totally Exhausted!Neal continues to nod off on Peter's shoulder" trope... But it's only a suggestion. I'm sure anything you'll come up wuth would be great!
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As for suggestions... *stroke of chin* How about...?
1) They're accidentally locked in a room that was a crime scene (creepy, I know) and they're forced to spend hours there 'til it's nighttime. It starts raining, with crashing thunder and everything, and since they're high up, it's especially loud and eerie. Neal freaks out, and Peter comforts him! ^_^ Haha, sounds like a Halloween ep., I know :P
2) Good ol' Tim DeKay's dream-episode idea and another lock-up situation, coincidentally: They're in a stuck elevator for too long, Neal starts panicking and, as you can guess - Peter comforts! LOL ^_^
3) Long road-trip with chauffeur: Somehow Peter and Neal are treated to a cross-state trip on behalf of some rich client who hires them out for a day of art authentication, and on the way Neal leans on Peter's shoulder and goes to sleep. At first Peter could gently nudge him away, telling Neal to stay on his side of the car, but Neal gravitates to him anyway. The chauffeur could look on in amusement, asking if Neal is his son, the way Peter treats him :)
Hehe, I'm such a softie for all this sweet, fluffy stuff *grin*
Anyways, just some ideas ;)
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I have one question for OP - would you be okay with exhausted!Peter snuggling to Neal for a change? I can go either way, so if you prefer exhausted!Neal, you got it :D
Meanwhile, stay tuned for part 4 :D
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