White Collar; Neal/Peter/El; this true/false thing, PG-15
So today I meant to have lunch and instead I wrote White Collar fic.
It's not my fault.
IT'S NOT MY FAULT.
I blame copperbadge for getting me into this show with that awesome post he did that one time and I blame Matt Bomer for his stupidly good acting and the White Collar writing staff for their stupidly awesome writing. But no matter what I say, it is really purple_chalk's fault, because she encourages me in every little thing I do. As such: this is dedicated to you, purple_chalk. Please take it with all my love and all the blame I have to offer.
Title: this true/false thing
Rating: PG-15 (Yes, this is a made up rating. Sue me.)
Pairing: Neal/Peter/El
Wordcount: ~1200
Summary: Some things are true and some are not.
One
a) True: Neal Caffrey has always been the kind of man who knows what you want.
He's made a career of it, the knowing--the taking is a secondary, a lesser skill. It's always been so easy, the slant of a quick smile, the delicate back-and-forth. And the success screaming in his veins when he's touched on the right desire, the reward of a completely satisfied anyone--it's a headier rush than any theft has ever been, will ever be.
b) False: Neal Caffrey is the only man capable of taking what he's taken.
That people think so is ridiculous: anyone can steal things. It's not...there's no challenge to it, it's only a matter of figuring out a few details and applying yourself. Theft, even grand theft, is an art that is teachable. Knowing where to place the prying fingers of charm and lever them back, knowing the what and where and who of conning--this is harder. This is what separates the men from the boys.
c) True: Neal Caffrey has charmed his way around everyone he's ever met, except Peter.
It is as exhausting as it is exhilarating, watching Peter watch him, waiting for the perfect moment to slip him the things that he wants and finally gain some distance. It is the first time in his entire life he's hoped to fail at something.
d) False: Neal Caffrey can't pick the lock Peter leaves wrapped around his ankle.
Neal can pick any lock, provided he's given enough time with it. He's known how to rewire the circuiting on that thing since the first time they cut it--it had been so easy to swipe the old one while Peter was in the bathroom and take a few photographs. It's just--well. Neal dreams, sometimes, of Peter's hand where the anklet is, squeezing just tight enough to make an impression. He's never been the kind of man to confuse "can" with "should," to mix up "I'm able to" and "I want to."
e) True: Neal Caffrey dreams, sometimes, of Peter's hands other places, other ways.
Always he is strong; always he is over Neal, heady and overpowering and smiling--smiling like Neal has given him just exactly what he wanted.
Two
a) False: Peter Burke has caught Neal twice.
This is just blatant underselling of Peter's abilities--Peter has caught Neal at least six times. It was just...well, two of them were too easy, one of them was technically illegal on his part, and one time Neal had very clearly broken his leg, and Peter had taken pity on him.
b) True: Peter Burke has never told Neal how many times he's really caught him.
Peter likes having the cards, having the power, and he hates the strange crumpled look Neal gets when he realizes he's failed at something. It's enough to remember the rush of victory, the harsh claim of "I've got him" caught around his throat. It's enough to remember letting him slip away, Neal's fate tangled firmly in Peter's fingers.
c) False: Peter Burke is enthralled by Neal because he doesn't love his wife.
This is ridiculously, patently untrue, and Peter has to remind himself of that every time the thought rears his ugly head. He does love Elizabeth, he has loved Elizabeth since the day he met her--a strange statement for a man who, the day before he met Elizabeth, would have insisted he didn't believe in that kind of nonsense. There is something about he that centers him and makes his heart beat faster all at once, even after all these years; there is something about her that fills him and makes him a whole person.
d) True: Peter Burke is just as enthralled by Neal as he was by Elizabeth ten years ago.
As he still is by Elizabeth, really; she still surprises him and makes him wonder why, how, he got so lucky. And Neal--well. Neal makes him feel brilliant and stupid at once, like he's got all the power but only most of the control. He feels the most himself, the most alive, with both of them in the same room, and it is confusing and terrifying and deeply, viscerally satisfying in a way Peter can't quite quantify.
e) False: Peter Burke doesn't trust Neal.
Peter Burke doesn't trust himself with Neal, doesn't trust himself to make the right call over the caterwauling of his own whatever-it-is. He'd let him go, after all, four times, and even though it had felt right each time he'd done it, had felt right in his bones, it had felt wrong when he'd gotten back to work. Peter is afraid that in trusting Neal, he will make Neal untrustworthy.
Three
a) True: Elizabeth Burke is smarter than her husband.
She'd never say so, of course, but she knows it, and Peter knows it, and even Neal knows it. Peter is brilliant, and there are things he can do blindfolded that she couldn't do with years of training, but when it comes to what's important, she's the brains of the operation, and she always has been.
b) False: Elizabeth Burke has no idea that Neal is fantasizing about Peter.
She's not blind, and it's easy to see--the way Neal's eyes linger too long on the line of Peter's suits, the way Neal's hands twitch when he's too close. She's not blind and she wouldn't want to be; there is a delicious forbidden joy that flutters within her every time she catches it out of the corner of her eye.
c) True: Elizabeth Burke knows perfectly well that Peter is fantasizing about Neal.
She hasn't told him yet, because he's not ready to know that she knows--she can see the panic in his eyes when Neal's name comes up, when he's caught looking. She'll know the right moment to mention it. Until then, it's easy enough to draw up the mental image of Peter's hands on Neal's wrists, the two of them writhing against her own bedsheets. She knows they're thinking of it, after all. No reason she shouldn't be as well.
d) False: Elizabeth Burke spent a week at her sister's because her house was being rewired.
That was part of it, of course, but it would have been easier to spend the week in the hotel with Peter, close to her husband and her work. She'd wanted to step back, to see if what was holding them back from each other was her presence--she knew she'd be able to tell, when she returned, if anything had happened. It hadn't, so she bit back her disappointment and settled down to wait. Waiting is a talent of hers, one she possesses in spades.
e) True: Elizabeth Burke has always been the kind of woman who knows what she wants.
She's in the business, of course, of pleasing others--she thinks, among the other things they have in common, it's why she gets on so well with Neal--but at the beginning and end of every day her ultimate goal is pleasing herself. And here...well. She's known what she wants for a long time now. The parties involved aren't ready yet; she'll know when they get there. Planning is her forte, after all. She's made a career out of it.
It's not my fault.
IT'S NOT MY FAULT.
I blame copperbadge for getting me into this show with that awesome post he did that one time and I blame Matt Bomer for his stupidly good acting and the White Collar writing staff for their stupidly awesome writing. But no matter what I say, it is really purple_chalk's fault, because she encourages me in every little thing I do. As such: this is dedicated to you, purple_chalk. Please take it with all my love and all the blame I have to offer.
Title: this true/false thing
Rating: PG-15 (Yes, this is a made up rating. Sue me.)
Pairing: Neal/Peter/El
Wordcount: ~1200
Summary: Some things are true and some are not.
One
a) True: Neal Caffrey has always been the kind of man who knows what you want.
He's made a career of it, the knowing--the taking is a secondary, a lesser skill. It's always been so easy, the slant of a quick smile, the delicate back-and-forth. And the success screaming in his veins when he's touched on the right desire, the reward of a completely satisfied anyone--it's a headier rush than any theft has ever been, will ever be.
b) False: Neal Caffrey is the only man capable of taking what he's taken.
That people think so is ridiculous: anyone can steal things. It's not...there's no challenge to it, it's only a matter of figuring out a few details and applying yourself. Theft, even grand theft, is an art that is teachable. Knowing where to place the prying fingers of charm and lever them back, knowing the what and where and who of conning--this is harder. This is what separates the men from the boys.
c) True: Neal Caffrey has charmed his way around everyone he's ever met, except Peter.
It is as exhausting as it is exhilarating, watching Peter watch him, waiting for the perfect moment to slip him the things that he wants and finally gain some distance. It is the first time in his entire life he's hoped to fail at something.
d) False: Neal Caffrey can't pick the lock Peter leaves wrapped around his ankle.
Neal can pick any lock, provided he's given enough time with it. He's known how to rewire the circuiting on that thing since the first time they cut it--it had been so easy to swipe the old one while Peter was in the bathroom and take a few photographs. It's just--well. Neal dreams, sometimes, of Peter's hand where the anklet is, squeezing just tight enough to make an impression. He's never been the kind of man to confuse "can" with "should," to mix up "I'm able to" and "I want to."
e) True: Neal Caffrey dreams, sometimes, of Peter's hands other places, other ways.
Always he is strong; always he is over Neal, heady and overpowering and smiling--smiling like Neal has given him just exactly what he wanted.
Two
a) False: Peter Burke has caught Neal twice.
This is just blatant underselling of Peter's abilities--Peter has caught Neal at least six times. It was just...well, two of them were too easy, one of them was technically illegal on his part, and one time Neal had very clearly broken his leg, and Peter had taken pity on him.
b) True: Peter Burke has never told Neal how many times he's really caught him.
Peter likes having the cards, having the power, and he hates the strange crumpled look Neal gets when he realizes he's failed at something. It's enough to remember the rush of victory, the harsh claim of "I've got him" caught around his throat. It's enough to remember letting him slip away, Neal's fate tangled firmly in Peter's fingers.
c) False: Peter Burke is enthralled by Neal because he doesn't love his wife.
This is ridiculously, patently untrue, and Peter has to remind himself of that every time the thought rears his ugly head. He does love Elizabeth, he has loved Elizabeth since the day he met her--a strange statement for a man who, the day before he met Elizabeth, would have insisted he didn't believe in that kind of nonsense. There is something about he that centers him and makes his heart beat faster all at once, even after all these years; there is something about her that fills him and makes him a whole person.
d) True: Peter Burke is just as enthralled by Neal as he was by Elizabeth ten years ago.
As he still is by Elizabeth, really; she still surprises him and makes him wonder why, how, he got so lucky. And Neal--well. Neal makes him feel brilliant and stupid at once, like he's got all the power but only most of the control. He feels the most himself, the most alive, with both of them in the same room, and it is confusing and terrifying and deeply, viscerally satisfying in a way Peter can't quite quantify.
e) False: Peter Burke doesn't trust Neal.
Peter Burke doesn't trust himself with Neal, doesn't trust himself to make the right call over the caterwauling of his own whatever-it-is. He'd let him go, after all, four times, and even though it had felt right each time he'd done it, had felt right in his bones, it had felt wrong when he'd gotten back to work. Peter is afraid that in trusting Neal, he will make Neal untrustworthy.
Three
a) True: Elizabeth Burke is smarter than her husband.
She'd never say so, of course, but she knows it, and Peter knows it, and even Neal knows it. Peter is brilliant, and there are things he can do blindfolded that she couldn't do with years of training, but when it comes to what's important, she's the brains of the operation, and she always has been.
b) False: Elizabeth Burke has no idea that Neal is fantasizing about Peter.
She's not blind, and it's easy to see--the way Neal's eyes linger too long on the line of Peter's suits, the way Neal's hands twitch when he's too close. She's not blind and she wouldn't want to be; there is a delicious forbidden joy that flutters within her every time she catches it out of the corner of her eye.
c) True: Elizabeth Burke knows perfectly well that Peter is fantasizing about Neal.
She hasn't told him yet, because he's not ready to know that she knows--she can see the panic in his eyes when Neal's name comes up, when he's caught looking. She'll know the right moment to mention it. Until then, it's easy enough to draw up the mental image of Peter's hands on Neal's wrists, the two of them writhing against her own bedsheets. She knows they're thinking of it, after all. No reason she shouldn't be as well.
d) False: Elizabeth Burke spent a week at her sister's because her house was being rewired.
That was part of it, of course, but it would have been easier to spend the week in the hotel with Peter, close to her husband and her work. She'd wanted to step back, to see if what was holding them back from each other was her presence--she knew she'd be able to tell, when she returned, if anything had happened. It hadn't, so she bit back her disappointment and settled down to wait. Waiting is a talent of hers, one she possesses in spades.
e) True: Elizabeth Burke has always been the kind of woman who knows what she wants.
She's in the business, of course, of pleasing others--she thinks, among the other things they have in common, it's why she gets on so well with Neal--but at the beginning and end of every day her ultimate goal is pleasing herself. And here...well. She's known what she wants for a long time now. The parties involved aren't ready yet; she'll know when they get there. Planning is her forte, after all. She's made a career out of it.