Fragile Things (Drabble Three)
If a person asked Special Agent Peter Burke if there was a chance of Neal Caffrey going domestic, then he would have laughed in their face. Neal enjoyed his freedom too much. Sure there was Kate but they were both kindred spirits: always wanting to be free. There was always that knowledge in the back of his mind that the moment the anklet was off for good, Neal would probably go back to crime. He was too smart, too clever, and too talented. All Peter hoped he could do was sway Neal to their way of thinking, get him to use his talents for good.
But Peter could never picture Neal with a wife and a nine to five job. He couldn’t see him coming home like Ward and June Cleaver or the Brady’s. It just wasn’t his way.
All Neal needed, Peter knew, was someone to just love him and never look back like how he felt with Kate. Peter knew that Neal’s kind of love was almost addicting, everyone wanted a taste more, and even exes that Peter talked to never had a bad thing to say about the conman. The only complaint was that he never wanted a normal, domestic existence.
Peter still hoped that Neal would find someone though. He would see the look in Neal’s eyes when he was with El. It was a look full of longing.
“Neal!” called Emrys as he happily strolled into the bullpen.
“Emrys? Why are you here? Is everything okay?” asked Neal smoothly as he walked over to the other man.
Peter watched as Emrys flushed and gave Neal a shy, slow smile. He held out a paper bag in his fingerless gloved hands. His scuffed sneakers shifted slightly on the floor as he mumbled.
“I-I made you a lunch.”
Neal’s grin was almost blinding, “Really?”
Emrys flushed, rubbed the back of his neck, and nodded, “Don’t read too much into this. You’ve been coming home late all week with this case. I thought you would appreciate something that wasn’t takeout.”
Peter chuckled as he watched the two. Oh young love…it brought back many memories of Peter’s earlier days of his and El’s relationship.
He watched them for a few more minutes.
Total opposites…Neal was tall and broad and charismatic in those fancy suits. Emrys was equally tall and lithe and quietly confident in clothes that look to be older than him.
El would call them a “striking pair”.
Peter saw that they complimented each other.
He watched Neal place a kiss on his boyfriend’s nose fondly.
Perhaps, domesticity was all relative in the end.