It's Apparently a Chuck/White Collar Weekend Over Here with My Polyamorous Muse
Title: So Many Gentlemen Just Don't Know (What a Chainsaw's For)
Fandom(s): Chuck/White Collar
Pairing(s): Chuck/Neal & Chuck/Bryce
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Neal doesn't understand his great- great- great- great-grandson's hesitation... But then, Neal doesn't understand a great deal about humans.
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
Neal doesn't understand his great- great- great- great-grandson's refusal to take advantage of certain opportunities where they present themselves. But then, Neal doesn't understand a number of things about his human descendants. In ways, men are harder today than they have ever been. Less bound by faith or fealty; less concerned with moral dilemmas and social taboos.
In other ways, the modern human man is soft. Few of the men in Neal's bloodline have chosen to join him in immortality, though Neal has hoped that Bryce - his last living heir - will add to their numbers.
Bryce may still, but if he wishes to bring a mate with him, he is wasting good time in securing one worthy of that gift.
"It's not- For fuck's sake, grand-"
"Bryce. Language."
The boy rolls his eyes and Neal can practically feel the patience seeping through his own dead skin.
"For fuck's sake, Neal."
"Better."
"Being with me is not a gift Chuck would be privileged in accepting..."
"Of course it is."
"I don't even know if that's how he feels about me. If I move too fast, too far, I'm going to scare him off!"
Neal bites his tongue so he doesn't tut at the sentiment - Bryce hates being tutted at, and one of them has to be the adult in this conversation.
"You know, there was a time when our kind didn't concern ourselves with the fear of humans..." Neal reminisces. "We reveled in it. We took what we wanted, when we wanted, and let the chips fall as they may..."
"And seven times out of ten got ourselves staked for our trouble," Bryce parrots his father. Really. If Bryce wasn't nearly Neal's spitting image - in physical appearance as well as taste in carnal destruction - Neal would have given up on him years ago.
"You know, I'm surprised at you," Bryce says. "You sound like one of the stuffy old Elders. What happened to 'charm is a gentleman's greatest weapon' and 'the strength of a man's smile is at least as powerful as the strength of his body'?"
"Charm, like might, is a means to an end, Bryce," Neal instructs. "And if you don't start using one more effectively than you've been using the other... You're going to end up more alone than you need to be. A mate like Charles doesn't come around ever century."
Bryce won't see reason. By the time their talk is finished, Neal knows that he is going to have to take measures to ensure his heir's happiness. Hopefully, he'll have taught Bryce a valuable lesson in the process. The fact that vampires live forever... doesn't mean that they can't lose out on things that they desire, if they don't act fast enough.
Neal dresses down - likening his wardrobe to that of a college student's (a college student who shops on Seville Row) - and stands outside Bryce's dorm room door, as if he doesn't know his own heir's schedule. And Chuck's.
"Bryce!" Chuck calls, turning a corner into the corridor, and he whistles. "Look at you! What, do you have some sort of hot date I don't know abou- Oh! I'm sorry! I thought you were- Jeez, you look so much like my roommate, it's uncanny."
Neal grins, holding his fangs tight inside his gums. Anticipation and the beating of countless, oblivious young hearts all around him have put Neal's self-control on edge.
And it shows. He can tell by the way Chuck flushes when they shake hands. Neal is sure to let his hand linger much longer than necessary, just to test Chuck's response, and is pleased to hear Chuck's pulse pick up encouragingly.
"Cousins," he gives Chuck the oft-used explanation. "Didn't Bryce tell you I was coming? He's supposed to give me a tour of your campus."
Chuck buys the lie so easily that Neal almost feels criminal as Chuck 'persuades' him into letting Chuck be the one to give him his tour.
Almost. If there's one thing Neal is not, it's soft. Hopefully, watching his sweet, gentle Chuck stolen away and seduced by his very own great- great- great- great-grandad will instill that trait in Bryce as well at last.
Title: In Love & (Clone) Wars
Fandom(s): Chuck/White Collar
Pairing(s): Chuck/Neal
Rating: PG-13
Summary:Bryce and Neal aren't twins. They're- "Wait. What?"
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
"Okay... And now you're just making fun of me."
"I'm not, Chuck, I swear. Look. There's the proof right in front of you."
Chuck is almost afraid to look at it, and his eyes flutter shut almost unconsciously. Sure, documents can be forged. But the Intersect can spot a forgery. The Intersect can spot a whole lot of things the human eye might miss. And if what Neal is telling Chuck is true...
Well. That raises a lot of questions. And the most disturbing question of all is: why. Why would the government sponsor a secret human cloning project? It's disturbing not because Chuck can't think of an answer...
But because he can think of all too many of them. And none of them are good.
"Chuck, open your eyes. Please..."
Chuck does. And he sees Neal gazing at him, searchingly. Neal is obviously showing Chuck this to more than just explain his resemblance to Bryce for Chuck's sake. Neal, at least, wants answers. Chuck's just not sure he's ready for them.
"Neal..."
"You need to know." 'I need to know,' remains unspoken but understood between them.
Chuck thinks about it. Would it change anything? If Neal is just a- a clone of Chuck's dead best friend... Will it change how Chuck feels about him? If Bryce wasn't even the original, if he was a clone himself, could that change how Chuck felt about him? If either or both of them were bor- created for a nefarious purpose, would it change the fact that Chuck's loved them both?
No. Neal's not "just" anything, no matter where he came from, and Bryce was Bryce even if he wasn't the first to wear Bryce's face. Chuck loved Bryce, he loves Neal, and if there's something Neal needs to know - for his own good - then Chuck needs to know it too. To protect Neal. Chuck decides that these are the only answers he needs to worry about. He looks at the papers Neal placed in front of him...
The Intersect does its thing.
And Chuck's blood runs cold. "Oh god..."
Neal's eyes are wide and anxious, and full of dread. "What is it?" Chuck can't answer right away. "Chuck? Chuck, what did you find out about me?" Neal's voice is shaky and thick.
But Chuck shakes his head. "No... Not about you." Chuck feels particularly surreal as he looks Neal in the eye and says, "About me."
Title: My Boy Builds Coffins
Fandom(s): White Collar/Chuck
Pairing(s): Neal/Peter/El, Bryce/Chuck/Sarah
Rating: PG
Summary: He's going to be the death of him one day... And, no, Peter isn't sure which he he means.
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
"You can't keep blaming your brother!"
"Seriously, Peter. This is all Bryce's fault."
"Yeah. Thanks for that."
Peter can just make out Bryce's dry tone in the background of his telephone conversation with Neal. He can picture the one man glaring at the other and his twin shrugging in response. Peter would like to let himself be distracted by their characteristic sibling rivalry (it would certainly be a more pleasant occupation of his thoughts than whether or not Neal is going to survive the day) but they can't afford to be distracted now.
"Backup is on it's way..." Peter tells Neal.
"They won't get here in time," he hears Bryce saying in the background. Also, what Peter thinks is Bryce readying some sort of assault riffle.
"Is he-"
"You don't want to know," Neal says quickly.
He's going to be the death of Peter someday. And, no, Peter isn't sure which he he means. Neal, his young partner, who has become not only an integral member of his team at work but an integral member of his union at home. Or Bryce. Neal's twin brother. The charming daredevil-slash-international-spy who is always either dragging Neal into trouble or dragging Neal out of it.
Peter's said many times how challenging it is loving a thief and a con.
If he'd met Bryce first, now he thinks he'd have just thanked the stars that Neal is the one he fell for.
"Just try not to get dead in the meantime," Peter says. It's all he can allow himself in the way of 'I love you' and 'Please come home safe' with his earpiece in, giving the rescue team en route to Neal's position a listen-in on their conversation.
The earpiece also gives Peter the news that the rescue team has just gotten four people larger.
"Oh, they'll do more than try," says Sarah over the comm channel. Sarah is Bryce's lover.
"Tell Bryce that if he gets himself shot again... even once... he'll be on lockdown in Castle for the next month," says Chuck, Bryce's other lover. Peter hears Colonel Casey and Morgan giving orders in the background.
Peter is torn between irritation at having the CIA elbow their way into control of the FBI's operation, and crippling relief that Chuck and his team are here. If anyone will do whatever it takes to get Neal and Bryce out of that warehouse alive, it's them.
"Tell Bryce the CIA are here," Peter tells Neal and hears Neal relay the message. "And tell him Chuck says he's in big trouble if he gets himself shot."
If either of the twins gets himself shot, Peter imagines, they will all be in big trouble. There's nothing like an entire FBI tactical team and one joint CIA/NSA blackops team going rogue and vengeful all together to raise the DoD's eyebrows.
'Tell him you both mean too much to too many people to go out like this,' Peter thinks at both brothers.
Neal says something quietly to Bryce. "Copy that," Bryce yells loud enough for Peter to take it as an answer.
All Peter can do is wait and pray that he and Neal do.
Title: The One Where Neal Doesn't Know the Meaning of Personal Space
Fandom(s): Chuck/White Collar
Pairing(s): Chuck/Neal
Rating: PG
Summary: Neal was just trying to be friendly to the new guy... Honest.
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
Neal was just trying to be nice to the new guy. Honestly. He had no improper or harmful intentions towards him... Well, no harmful ones, anyways. (And Neal wouldn't necessarily call it 'proper' not to find Chuck incredibly attractive. Sounds more like a medical condition to Neal.)
Still, he wasn't trying to- To molest Chuck or anything. Or to pickpocket him, which is what Peter is undoubtedly going to think when he hears about this.
If he hears about this. Neal would rather he didn't, though considering Neal's luck, as of late, Neal supposes he must.
"I'm so sorry! Really, Neal, I am. It's a kind of... a kind of reflex," Chuck babbles as he helps Neal up off the ground and dusts off Neal's suit.
It's not at all what Neal imagined, when he imagined getting Chuck's hands on his body.
"Those are some reflexes, Chuck," Neal says, unable to keep the pique out of his voice. Oh, he's been rejected before - once or twice even violently. But he's never been body slammed in the process. And he's never been rejected so immediately, so definitively, by someone with Chuck's openly kind and jovial demeanor.
"Yeah... I, uh, I was-"
"In the Reserves. Yeah, I heard you." Neal silently scoffs at the notion. Chuck didn't move just now like a weekend warrior. Neal's not entirely sure what Chuck moves like. But whatever Chuck did before coming to the Bureau, he obviously did it very well... Neal only knows that he should probably feel relieved that Chuck isn't as into him as he's into Chuck. It should take some of the sting out of the realization that, when Neal's seen Chuck's pupils dilate as Neal's drawn close, it wasn't with desire, as Neal had interpreted; it was with the urge to potentially break Neal's bones.
The last thing Neal needs in his life is a dangerous and mysterious boyfriend. He brings enough danger and mystery into the world on his own. So Neal should feel like he's dodged a bullet by failing to capture Chuck's romantic interest. Neal sighs as Chuck fishes his fedora out of a nearby bush, face flushed a charming pink and continuing to stammer out apologies and far-fetched explanations.
Neal really, really isn't. If anything, he's even more intrigued by Chuck now that he's seen this side of him.
"Will you- Are you alright?" Chuck asks, big brown eyes pleading.
And Neal can't resist. Neal schools his face into a somber expression and, moth to flame, says, "You know what, Chuck? I don't believe I am."
Chuck's face just crumbles. "Oh god... Really? Where are you hurt? We'll- I'll get you to a doctor. I-"
But Neal cuts Chuck off. He steps closer (making sure, this time, that Chuck sees him coming) and looks Chuck eye-to-eye. Chuck looks surprised, but - thankfully, now - unlikely to lash out because of it. Neal says, "I'd really hoped that you felt about me the same way I've come to feel about you."
And Neal's persistence pays off. Chuck doesn't look awkward because of or disgusted by what Neal's said - or even politely disinterested. He looks shocked... pleasantly shocked, and perhaps even hopeful.
"You- you felt..."
"Feel, Chuck. I feel like I'd really enjoy getting to know you better. Outside of the office, I mean."
"I do!" Chuck blurts out, still blushing. (Neal could get used to that.) Then Chuck clarifies: "Feel the same way, I mean. About getting to know you. Neal, I'd love to. I'm really sorry I hurt you... You just surprised me is all..."
"You didn't really hurt me, Chuck," Neal reassures. At least, he isn't hurt in a way that a nice back rub and a warm bath won't cure. "But if you don't react well to surprises-"
Chuck laughs nervously. "I really don't."
Neal smiles.
Peter calls this smile his 'shark's' smile.
Chuck visibly swallows.
"If it would help you to know what I'm going to do before I do it... I'm going to kiss you now, Chuck."
Neal lays a hand on Chuck's cheek. Chuck smiles back at him. If he hadn't seen it (felt it) for himself, Neal wouldn't believe that a guy with a smile like Chuck's could hurt a fly.
"I promise not to go all kung-fu on you when you do," Chuck says.
"I appreciate that," Neal says just before their lips meet.
Fandom(s): Chuck/White Collar
Pairing(s): Chuck/Neal & Chuck/Bryce
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Neal doesn't understand his great- great- great- great-grandson's hesitation... But then, Neal doesn't understand a great deal about humans.
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
Neal doesn't understand his great- great- great- great-grandson's refusal to take advantage of certain opportunities where they present themselves. But then, Neal doesn't understand a number of things about his human descendants. In ways, men are harder today than they have ever been. Less bound by faith or fealty; less concerned with moral dilemmas and social taboos.
In other ways, the modern human man is soft. Few of the men in Neal's bloodline have chosen to join him in immortality, though Neal has hoped that Bryce - his last living heir - will add to their numbers.
Bryce may still, but if he wishes to bring a mate with him, he is wasting good time in securing one worthy of that gift.
"It's not- For fuck's sake, grand-"
"Bryce. Language."
The boy rolls his eyes and Neal can practically feel the patience seeping through his own dead skin.
"For fuck's sake, Neal."
"Better."
"Being with me is not a gift Chuck would be privileged in accepting..."
"Of course it is."
"I don't even know if that's how he feels about me. If I move too fast, too far, I'm going to scare him off!"
Neal bites his tongue so he doesn't tut at the sentiment - Bryce hates being tutted at, and one of them has to be the adult in this conversation.
"You know, there was a time when our kind didn't concern ourselves with the fear of humans..." Neal reminisces. "We reveled in it. We took what we wanted, when we wanted, and let the chips fall as they may..."
"And seven times out of ten got ourselves staked for our trouble," Bryce parrots his father. Really. If Bryce wasn't nearly Neal's spitting image - in physical appearance as well as taste in carnal destruction - Neal would have given up on him years ago.
"You know, I'm surprised at you," Bryce says. "You sound like one of the stuffy old Elders. What happened to 'charm is a gentleman's greatest weapon' and 'the strength of a man's smile is at least as powerful as the strength of his body'?"
"Charm, like might, is a means to an end, Bryce," Neal instructs. "And if you don't start using one more effectively than you've been using the other... You're going to end up more alone than you need to be. A mate like Charles doesn't come around ever century."
Bryce won't see reason. By the time their talk is finished, Neal knows that he is going to have to take measures to ensure his heir's happiness. Hopefully, he'll have taught Bryce a valuable lesson in the process. The fact that vampires live forever... doesn't mean that they can't lose out on things that they desire, if they don't act fast enough.
Neal dresses down - likening his wardrobe to that of a college student's (a college student who shops on Seville Row) - and stands outside Bryce's dorm room door, as if he doesn't know his own heir's schedule. And Chuck's.
"Bryce!" Chuck calls, turning a corner into the corridor, and he whistles. "Look at you! What, do you have some sort of hot date I don't know abou- Oh! I'm sorry! I thought you were- Jeez, you look so much like my roommate, it's uncanny."
Neal grins, holding his fangs tight inside his gums. Anticipation and the beating of countless, oblivious young hearts all around him have put Neal's self-control on edge.
And it shows. He can tell by the way Chuck flushes when they shake hands. Neal is sure to let his hand linger much longer than necessary, just to test Chuck's response, and is pleased to hear Chuck's pulse pick up encouragingly.
"Cousins," he gives Chuck the oft-used explanation. "Didn't Bryce tell you I was coming? He's supposed to give me a tour of your campus."
Chuck buys the lie so easily that Neal almost feels criminal as Chuck 'persuades' him into letting Chuck be the one to give him his tour.
Almost. If there's one thing Neal is not, it's soft. Hopefully, watching his sweet, gentle Chuck stolen away and seduced by his very own great- great- great- great-grandad will instill that trait in Bryce as well at last.
Title: In Love & (Clone) Wars
Fandom(s): Chuck/White Collar
Pairing(s): Chuck/Neal
Rating: PG-13
Summary:Bryce and Neal aren't twins. They're- "Wait. What?"
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
"Okay... And now you're just making fun of me."
"I'm not, Chuck, I swear. Look. There's the proof right in front of you."
Chuck is almost afraid to look at it, and his eyes flutter shut almost unconsciously. Sure, documents can be forged. But the Intersect can spot a forgery. The Intersect can spot a whole lot of things the human eye might miss. And if what Neal is telling Chuck is true...
Well. That raises a lot of questions. And the most disturbing question of all is: why. Why would the government sponsor a secret human cloning project? It's disturbing not because Chuck can't think of an answer...
But because he can think of all too many of them. And none of them are good.
"Chuck, open your eyes. Please..."
Chuck does. And he sees Neal gazing at him, searchingly. Neal is obviously showing Chuck this to more than just explain his resemblance to Bryce for Chuck's sake. Neal, at least, wants answers. Chuck's just not sure he's ready for them.
"Neal..."
"You need to know." 'I need to know,' remains unspoken but understood between them.
Chuck thinks about it. Would it change anything? If Neal is just a- a clone of Chuck's dead best friend... Will it change how Chuck feels about him? If Bryce wasn't even the original, if he was a clone himself, could that change how Chuck felt about him? If either or both of them were bor- created for a nefarious purpose, would it change the fact that Chuck's loved them both?
No. Neal's not "just" anything, no matter where he came from, and Bryce was Bryce even if he wasn't the first to wear Bryce's face. Chuck loved Bryce, he loves Neal, and if there's something Neal needs to know - for his own good - then Chuck needs to know it too. To protect Neal. Chuck decides that these are the only answers he needs to worry about. He looks at the papers Neal placed in front of him...
The Intersect does its thing.
And Chuck's blood runs cold. "Oh god..."
Neal's eyes are wide and anxious, and full of dread. "What is it?" Chuck can't answer right away. "Chuck? Chuck, what did you find out about me?" Neal's voice is shaky and thick.
But Chuck shakes his head. "No... Not about you." Chuck feels particularly surreal as he looks Neal in the eye and says, "About me."
Title: My Boy Builds Coffins
Fandom(s): White Collar/Chuck
Pairing(s): Neal/Peter/El, Bryce/Chuck/Sarah
Rating: PG
Summary: He's going to be the death of him one day... And, no, Peter isn't sure which he he means.
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
"You can't keep blaming your brother!"
"Seriously, Peter. This is all Bryce's fault."
"Yeah. Thanks for that."
Peter can just make out Bryce's dry tone in the background of his telephone conversation with Neal. He can picture the one man glaring at the other and his twin shrugging in response. Peter would like to let himself be distracted by their characteristic sibling rivalry (it would certainly be a more pleasant occupation of his thoughts than whether or not Neal is going to survive the day) but they can't afford to be distracted now.
"Backup is on it's way..." Peter tells Neal.
"They won't get here in time," he hears Bryce saying in the background. Also, what Peter thinks is Bryce readying some sort of assault riffle.
"Is he-"
"You don't want to know," Neal says quickly.
He's going to be the death of Peter someday. And, no, Peter isn't sure which he he means. Neal, his young partner, who has become not only an integral member of his team at work but an integral member of his union at home. Or Bryce. Neal's twin brother. The charming daredevil-slash-international-spy who is always either dragging Neal into trouble or dragging Neal out of it.
Peter's said many times how challenging it is loving a thief and a con.
If he'd met Bryce first, now he thinks he'd have just thanked the stars that Neal is the one he fell for.
"Just try not to get dead in the meantime," Peter says. It's all he can allow himself in the way of 'I love you' and 'Please come home safe' with his earpiece in, giving the rescue team en route to Neal's position a listen-in on their conversation.
The earpiece also gives Peter the news that the rescue team has just gotten four people larger.
"Oh, they'll do more than try," says Sarah over the comm channel. Sarah is Bryce's lover.
"Tell Bryce that if he gets himself shot again... even once... he'll be on lockdown in Castle for the next month," says Chuck, Bryce's other lover. Peter hears Colonel Casey and Morgan giving orders in the background.
Peter is torn between irritation at having the CIA elbow their way into control of the FBI's operation, and crippling relief that Chuck and his team are here. If anyone will do whatever it takes to get Neal and Bryce out of that warehouse alive, it's them.
"Tell Bryce the CIA are here," Peter tells Neal and hears Neal relay the message. "And tell him Chuck says he's in big trouble if he gets himself shot."
If either of the twins gets himself shot, Peter imagines, they will all be in big trouble. There's nothing like an entire FBI tactical team and one joint CIA/NSA blackops team going rogue and vengeful all together to raise the DoD's eyebrows.
'Tell him you both mean too much to too many people to go out like this,' Peter thinks at both brothers.
Neal says something quietly to Bryce. "Copy that," Bryce yells loud enough for Peter to take it as an answer.
All Peter can do is wait and pray that he and Neal do.
Title: The One Where Neal Doesn't Know the Meaning of Personal Space
Fandom(s): Chuck/White Collar
Pairing(s): Chuck/Neal
Rating: PG
Summary: Neal was just trying to be friendly to the new guy... Honest.
Author's Note: For this prompt at comment_fic.
AO3
Neal was just trying to be nice to the new guy. Honestly. He had no improper or harmful intentions towards him... Well, no harmful ones, anyways. (And Neal wouldn't necessarily call it 'proper' not to find Chuck incredibly attractive. Sounds more like a medical condition to Neal.)
Still, he wasn't trying to- To molest Chuck or anything. Or to pickpocket him, which is what Peter is undoubtedly going to think when he hears about this.
If he hears about this. Neal would rather he didn't, though considering Neal's luck, as of late, Neal supposes he must.
"I'm so sorry! Really, Neal, I am. It's a kind of... a kind of reflex," Chuck babbles as he helps Neal up off the ground and dusts off Neal's suit.
It's not at all what Neal imagined, when he imagined getting Chuck's hands on his body.
"Those are some reflexes, Chuck," Neal says, unable to keep the pique out of his voice. Oh, he's been rejected before - once or twice even violently. But he's never been body slammed in the process. And he's never been rejected so immediately, so definitively, by someone with Chuck's openly kind and jovial demeanor.
"Yeah... I, uh, I was-"
"In the Reserves. Yeah, I heard you." Neal silently scoffs at the notion. Chuck didn't move just now like a weekend warrior. Neal's not entirely sure what Chuck moves like. But whatever Chuck did before coming to the Bureau, he obviously did it very well... Neal only knows that he should probably feel relieved that Chuck isn't as into him as he's into Chuck. It should take some of the sting out of the realization that, when Neal's seen Chuck's pupils dilate as Neal's drawn close, it wasn't with desire, as Neal had interpreted; it was with the urge to potentially break Neal's bones.
The last thing Neal needs in his life is a dangerous and mysterious boyfriend. He brings enough danger and mystery into the world on his own. So Neal should feel like he's dodged a bullet by failing to capture Chuck's romantic interest. Neal sighs as Chuck fishes his fedora out of a nearby bush, face flushed a charming pink and continuing to stammer out apologies and far-fetched explanations.
Neal really, really isn't. If anything, he's even more intrigued by Chuck now that he's seen this side of him.
"Will you- Are you alright?" Chuck asks, big brown eyes pleading.
And Neal can't resist. Neal schools his face into a somber expression and, moth to flame, says, "You know what, Chuck? I don't believe I am."
Chuck's face just crumbles. "Oh god... Really? Where are you hurt? We'll- I'll get you to a doctor. I-"
But Neal cuts Chuck off. He steps closer (making sure, this time, that Chuck sees him coming) and looks Chuck eye-to-eye. Chuck looks surprised, but - thankfully, now - unlikely to lash out because of it. Neal says, "I'd really hoped that you felt about me the same way I've come to feel about you."
And Neal's persistence pays off. Chuck doesn't look awkward because of or disgusted by what Neal's said - or even politely disinterested. He looks shocked... pleasantly shocked, and perhaps even hopeful.
"You- you felt..."
"Feel, Chuck. I feel like I'd really enjoy getting to know you better. Outside of the office, I mean."
"I do!" Chuck blurts out, still blushing. (Neal could get used to that.) Then Chuck clarifies: "Feel the same way, I mean. About getting to know you. Neal, I'd love to. I'm really sorry I hurt you... You just surprised me is all..."
"You didn't really hurt me, Chuck," Neal reassures. At least, he isn't hurt in a way that a nice back rub and a warm bath won't cure. "But if you don't react well to surprises-"
Chuck laughs nervously. "I really don't."
Neal smiles.
Peter calls this smile his 'shark's' smile.
Chuck visibly swallows.
"If it would help you to know what I'm going to do before I do it... I'm going to kiss you now, Chuck."
Neal lays a hand on Chuck's cheek. Chuck smiles back at him. If he hadn't seen it (felt it) for himself, Neal wouldn't believe that a guy with a smile like Chuck's could hurt a fly.
"I promise not to go all kung-fu on you when you do," Chuck says.
"I appreciate that," Neal says just before their lips meet.