Fic: Dancing with the Truth
Title: Dancing with the Truth
Author: turtlebaby_02
Characters (Pairings): Peter/Neal (/Elizabeth)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1200
Warnings: Slash (because apparently that's all I'm capable of writing lately. Gen? Oops, HOW'D EVERYONE GET NAKED. idek)
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. I'm just playing.
Summary: Sometimes it takes a wife. And a Dance. But sometimes just a dance.
Author’s Note: I'm supposed to be writing my advent story. But then, there was this! The muse, he is cranky. Also, I'm getting whiplash from the current season so I've been submersing myself in schmoop. This is a result of that.
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To be fair, this wasn't his kind of thing. The tux was uncomfortable and the shiny black shoes were pinching at his toes by the time the night was half over. But he was there because nights like this made Elizabeth shine. He was here because she was, because he was lucky enough for her to want him on her arm and he knew it.
Neal on the other hand had grinned like a mad fool when she had produced his invitation with a flourish just three days before. He wasn't sure what that was about but it made something like jealousy flare up, sometimes they just fit - too well. Neal flirted and Elizabeth liked it.
And he knew he was ridiculous but sometimes she gave him that little smile and flirted back. And now, watching his partner dance with his wife; smooth and confident in away he'd never be on the dance floor, the low burn was back. But the kicker was, he wasn't sure if it was Neal's whisper against her ear or her laugh against his shoulder he was jealous of. It could have been Neal's hands resting just above the curve of her ass or that she had hers splayed across his back. It might have been the way his thumb traced the shell of her ear when he tucked her hair back or even just how easily they glided together, tucked close like two that knew each other intimately.
Either way he was burning as he sidled up beside them. "Can I cut in?"
Both faces turned to him but they didn't separate where their chests were pressed close. Elizabeth grinned and Neal had on his innocent smile and they were both looked flush in the dim light.
"Well, you could, Peter. But I wouldn't want to make your wife jealous." Neal's voice was low and teasing. But he stepped away and pressed his lips to the back of Elizabeth's hand. Then he turned eyes back to Peter and for a minute they were stuck in the reality of the moment.
Peter felt the blush creep across his chest and up his neck and he tore his eyes away but they didn’t get far, landing on Neal's lips and the shiver that shot through him had little to do with the temperature of the room. The mouth he was watching turned up in a smirk and he shook himself and moved his eyes to his wife, who was watching the scene with amusement on her face. "Thanks." His voice was too low and too gruff and he slid between them, pulling his wife into his arms.
Together they moved away from Neal but as they turned on the floor, Peter caught sight of him again, watching; his eyes flitting carefully over his wife as they moved.
"It drives me crazy when he flirts with you." He confided to El's hair.
"I know." She told his shoulder. "That's why he does it."
Peter pulled back to study her face. She looked happy, eyes bright and her cheeky little smile in place. "Of course."
She bit at her lip to control her smile and Peter couldn't help it, he dipped in and kissed her. "Peter, you never seem to notice when he flirts with you. But as soon as he starts charming me..."
"Neal does not flirt with me." A surprised chuckle rose from his throat.
"Oh, but honey, he does." She ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his head. "When Neal flirts with me he's... suave and whispers. He's confident and warm and thumbsy."
"Thumbsy?" Peter raised an eyebrow.
"He never really touches, you know? Just his thumbs on my wrists, my ear..."
"The invisible pattern across your back." Peter traced the route Neal's thumbs had taken earlier.
"Yeah." She nodded against him. "But when he flirts with you he's..." She used her hand to turn Peter's head so they were looking in the same direction. And there was Neal, leaning against the far wall next to the exit, hands tucked into his pockets. Watching them with a heated look and a soft smile. "Real."
"He's probably taking this opportunity to look at your tush." Peter tried to make light of his friends easy stare.
Elizabeth just sighed. "Trust me, sweetie. He's watching you." She stopped dancing and got on her tiptoes to breathe into his ear. "Watch him."
And then she pressed her lips to his cheek and stepped back. "I need to use the restroom. Get my coat?" She moved away with a wink.
Peter narrowed his eyes but then obeyed, his gaze finding Neal easily. The other man followed his wife's progression through the crowd for about two seconds before his eyes darted back to Peter.
Peter couldn't see the blush as it crept his cheeks from his position across the room but he didn't miss the smile Neal tried to hide with a duck of his chin.
When he looked up again, Peter had vanished from his sight and Neal scanned the crowd quickly but couldn't place him. His gaze was still flitting from face to face when a hand at the small of his back made him jump. "Looking for someone?" Peter's voice was low and right in his ear.
Neal immediately relaxed. "Not anymore."
"It's midnight, Cinderella. Are you ready to leave the ball?" His voice was still low.
"Not even close." Neal closed his eyes and leaned into him lightly. "I still haven't gotten to dance with the prince."
Peter tugged him through the doors and into the shadows of the hallway. "Then dance with me."
Neal's eyes flicked over his face, searching, questioning. "And she said you'd take some convincing."
"She did all the groundwork on that." Peter pulled him closer, his hands resting just where Neal's had on his wife earlier. He moved in time to the music muffled by the doors and Neal followed his lead, his hands now splayed across Peter's back. Neal let his head fall to Peter's shoulder and Peter smiled into his hair.
Neither noticed when the song ended and another, more upbeat song started. They moved to the rhythm of their own, immersed fully in each other until a small cough came from behind them. Peter's eyes, which had drifted closed, opened to his wife grinning from ear to ear. He drifted his lips across Neal's temple as he pulled away.
"I do great work." El looked incredibly pleased with herself.
"You do." Peter slid a glance over to Neal, pleased by the flush on his cheeks and the brightness of his eyes. He looked downright feverish. "Let's take him home before he realizes I'm just a pumpkin under a glitzy spell."
"I don't think that's how the story goes, Peter." Neal's smile was genuine. "If I am Cinderella, wouldn't I already know you're a pumpkin? And wouldn't I leave with you anyway?"
Peter just took his hand with a smile and led him outside into the cold night. Elizabeth followed two steps behind. "Wait. You guys. This analogy doesn't make sense. Boys?" She was so confused. "Does that make me a mouse? A horse? A horse mouse?" She shook her head. "The pumpkin gets the princess. And I get to be a mouse." But she was still grinning.
END