The hot question
Title: The hot question
Rating: Pg 13
Genre: Humor, Silliness, Some slashness
Spoilers: None
Word Count: 1000
Many, many thanks to my betaailurophile6 . She did an amazing job of fixing my poor English. Every mistake left is mine and mine alone
Summary: Neal is drugged and has a question for Peter
This is my first slash in English. Weeee! I finally accomplished one of my goals.
The door opened and the first thing he was aware of was that the room smelled of stale air and cigarette smoke.
Peter couldn’t see anything; his eyes weren’t accustomed to the darkness yet, but he immediately realized that there was someone else in the room: a man, handcuffed to a chair in front of a big, wooden table, and it took only a few seconds to recognize him as Neal.
Peter rushed to his side.
“Hey Neal, buddy, are you okay? Neal, c’mon, wake up!” Apparently, the urgency in Peter’s voice registered , because Neal’s eyes finally fluttered open.
“God…lower your voice… my head’s killing me.”
Peter sighed with relief and started talking into his radio, to get paramedics inside the room.
While he was working on his restraints, Neal let out a strange sound, which Peter misunderstood as symptom of pain.
“Neal, hold on a little bit,” he encouraged softly.
Then he heard that weird sound again; this time he looked into Neal's bloodshot eyes and everything became clear.
“Damn, Neal,” he swore, “They drugged you!”
Neal just nodded happily.
Peter did his best to help Neal out of the chair, but with Neal’s lack of coordination, they ended up on the floor.
Neal laughed hard when he found Peter lying on top of him, with their faces dangerously close to each other.
“You are taking advantage of my virtue, Agent Burke,” he said jubilantly.
“Why don’t you sing something, instead of being silly?” Peter replied, pulling them into a sitting position.
“Do you like my voice?” he asked, smiling like a child.
Peter didn’t know if he should humor him or not, but a forthcoming Neal was something rarely seen. Humoring him a little bit wouldn’t be held against him in the future. Besides, he wasn’t breaking any laws.
“Yes, you have a good voice. Among other remarkable qualities.”
The last comment made Neal’s face light up like a Christmas tree.
“Peter, I really need you to answer a question, but you must be completely honest with me.”
Peter agreed, even though he was pretty sure Neal wouldn't remember a word of this conversation later.
“Would you say I'm pretty, or hot?”
Peter chuckled at the serious expression on Neal’s face, fighting to keep his composure.
“You should ask someone else.”
“Why?”
“Because… well, it’s a girl thing, talking about guy's appearance.”
“Oh,” Neal frowned. But then he gave him an intense gaze, “Can you do me a favor?”
“It depends.”
“Please, I really, really need it.”
“Shoot.”
“I want your cell,” he declared brightly.
“To do what?”
“I want Elizabeth to answer my question.”
Peter gave him a pained look, “Are you serious?”
“You said I had to ask a woman, and Elizabeth is a woman.”
“What a brilliant deduction, but there is no way.” He couldn’t really believe they were having an argument about Neal’s hotness.
“You never,” Neal lamented.
“I never what?”
“Appreciate my style. ” His partner looked hurt and confused. The drug was truly messing with his head, and this time Peter couldn’t suppress his laughter any longer.
“Why are you laughing at me?” he complained.
“Cowboy up Neal!”
“Boss, the EMTs should be here in a few minutes,” Diana made her appearance in the room.
“Diana, Diana!” Neal called for her, sounding almost desperate.
Peter and Diana exchanged a glance, and she nodded at his unspoken request.
“What’s up Neal?” she asked in a gentle tone.
“You are a woman, so Peter thinks you might answer my question.”
“Ehm, okay what do you want to know?”
“Am I pretty, or am I hot?”
“Seriously?” She chuckled.
“No one wants to answer my question,” he complained.
“I’m so going to hold this against you,” and she left the room laughing.
Peter frowned at Neal, but eventually he admitted defeat.
“Okay, let’s talk with Elizabeth.” He dialed her number and she answered right away.
“Hi honey, did you find Neal?” Her voice was filled with concern.
“Yes, he’s with me and fine,” he reassured her, “but they drugged him and you remember how he gets when he’s high.” He glanced
at Neal, who luckily was less pale than before.
“Okay, but what’s the matter with me?”
“He needs you to answer a question.” He gave his cell to Neal and patiently waited for that stupid question to pop out again.
“Hi Elizabeth!” he greeted her, even happier than before.
“Hi Neal! What do you want to know?”
“In your opinion…”
“Yes?”
“Would you define me as hot, or pretty?”
“Definitely hot,” she answered, with a strange note in her voice.
“And Peter?”
“Absolutely hot.” Now her amusement was evident, but there was something more, and Neal was very smart, especially when it came to reading people.
“Thank you Elizabeth!” He hung up the phone, giggling.
“Well, it seems you got the answer you wanted, right?”
Neal didn’t reply, just leaned over and kissed his lips.
Peter didn’t understand what was going on at first , but kissing Neal was good, better than his secret fantasies. Compared to Elizabeth, his lips were less soft, but equally demanding and warm. Suddenly the realization of what they were doing hit him, and he broke the kiss.
Neal moaned in protest.
“We have to stop now. I can’t do something like this, while you are drugged out of your mind,” he concluded, with clear disappointment in his voice.
Neal smiled, took Peter’s hand and let him feel the beat of his heart. “I’m not that high, Peter,” he said, matter of fact.
“So it was a con?”
“Um...”
“An omission?”
Neal raised one eyebrow. “CI immunity?”
Peter looked at him incredulously, but then he remembered his fear of few hours ago, when Neal was still missing, and he realized that some immunity could always make it better.
“Okay, but only because you had a bad day,” and kissed his forehead quickly, before the paramedics entered the room.