Fic: Something Real
*embraces f-list* Here is a tiny Christmas ficlet for you!
Title: Something Real
Author: cookielaura
Wordcount: 247
Characters: Peter, Neal
Rating: G, no warnings
Disclaimer: White Collar isn't mine
Summary: No prizes for guessing where Neal's spending the holidays \o/
‘Oh, I thought I’d come over at noon tomorrow, so that we can all have a lie-in but I’ll be in time for brunch,’ Neal says casually as they’re finishing up the final case-notes.
Peter is tired, overheated in the stuffy office, and fighting the beginning of a headache. ‘What?’ he asks, irritated and confused, without thinking.
‘Noon tomorrow, Peter, unless you want me to come earlier,’ Neal says, and he gives a dazzling smile that Peter instantly recognises as one of his many con-smiles. And now Peter’s on the alert because that never spells good news.
He sharpens his mind immediately and questions why Neal would be arranging a time to come over on Christmas Eve as if he’s already been invited to spend the day at the Burkes’, when Peter knows full well he hasn’t asked him to, and El has been too overloaded with end-of-year event-planning to even think of what they’re doing themselves for Christmas.
And Neal knows - must know, surely - that if he doesn’t have plans for Christmas then he could very well just ask to come over.
He opens his mouth to say this to Neal, and then shuts it again. Because that dazzling smile looks oddly brittle, as if it could splinter and shatter at any point, and Peter realises that Neal hasn’t asked because Neal couldn’t bear to hear ‘no’.
‘Noon’s good,’ he says. ‘Bring wine.’
‘Got it,’ Neal replies, and the smile shifts and solidifies into something real.
Title: Something Real
Author: cookielaura
Wordcount: 247
Characters: Peter, Neal
Rating: G, no warnings
Disclaimer: White Collar isn't mine
Summary: No prizes for guessing where Neal's spending the holidays \o/
‘Oh, I thought I’d come over at noon tomorrow, so that we can all have a lie-in but I’ll be in time for brunch,’ Neal says casually as they’re finishing up the final case-notes.
Peter is tired, overheated in the stuffy office, and fighting the beginning of a headache. ‘What?’ he asks, irritated and confused, without thinking.
‘Noon tomorrow, Peter, unless you want me to come earlier,’ Neal says, and he gives a dazzling smile that Peter instantly recognises as one of his many con-smiles. And now Peter’s on the alert because that never spells good news.
He sharpens his mind immediately and questions why Neal would be arranging a time to come over on Christmas Eve as if he’s already been invited to spend the day at the Burkes’, when Peter knows full well he hasn’t asked him to, and El has been too overloaded with end-of-year event-planning to even think of what they’re doing themselves for Christmas.
And Neal knows - must know, surely - that if he doesn’t have plans for Christmas then he could very well just ask to come over.
He opens his mouth to say this to Neal, and then shuts it again. Because that dazzling smile looks oddly brittle, as if it could splinter and shatter at any point, and Peter realises that Neal hasn’t asked because Neal couldn’t bear to hear ‘no’.
‘Noon’s good,’ he says. ‘Bring wine.’
‘Got it,’ Neal replies, and the smile shifts and solidifies into something real.