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Neal gave the box in his hands a little shake, then sat it down on the desk between him and Peter. "Cufflinks," he said simply, confident of his guess.
Peter stared unblinking at Neal for several moments. "I hate you," he stated simply.
"Come on, Peter! You don't hate me," Neal responded with a blinding smile as he leaned back in his chair across from Peter.
"You cheated," Peter accused Neal with a stern point of his finger.
"How did I cheat?" Neal held his hands up and shrugged in confusion and clear innocence as Peter stood up to pace his office.
"I don't know, but you did - somehow." Peter's hands were now on his hips and his lips were beginning to pucker in irritation.
"Is this an investigation now?" Neal asked with raised eyebrows.
"Are you admitting to a crime?" Peter countered, his attention fully on Neal's answer.
"I didn't cheat!" Neal exclaimed, as if the sheer idea insulted him.
"If anyone could cheat at this, it'd be you," Peter said with narrowed eyes.
"A compliment! Peter, I'm surprised, especially given how angry you seem to be right now, though why you are is beyond me," Neal said, continuing to get under Peter's skin like no one else could.
"Because you cheated!" Peter all but shouted.
"I didn't cheat, Peter," Neal reiterated in a patient manner that grinded at Peter's nerves.
Peter placed his hands on his desk and loomed over a very unintimidated Neal. "Then how did you know?" he demanded, his low voice enunciating each word slowly and clearly.
Neal tried not to smile smugly, but he was failing miserably - the cheeky bastard. "I've been subtly mentioning that I've been wanting new cuff links for the last couple of weeks, just easing it into conversations and letting you think that you thought of it all by yourself. It really wasn't that hard," he said, letting out a little laugh at Peter mixed expression - bewilderment and anger among them.
"You conned me," Peter said, actually feeling a little betrayed by that.
"I tested you. Now you know you can be manipulated like that. You're welcome," Neal responded easily.
"No, this is not some lesson you're teaching me," Peter started, but Neal was already countering him.
"I'm a conman." At Peter's stern look, he chose to rephrase. "Was a conman. I know how to manipulate a persons actions. That's why I was the best," he said with a huge, self-satisfied grin.
Peter glared at an annoyingly cheerful Neal for another minute until a thought occurred to him. "Wait, how did you know that I'd even be your secret Santa until today?"
Neal stood up with the grace of a dancer, flipped his hat onto his head with complete ease and smiled at Peter from under the brim like the world was all a game and he knew exactly how to cheat without ever getting caught. "Now, I can't reveal all of my tricks, can I? There would be no reason to keep me around then." Neal spun on his heel and strolled out the door of Peter's office with a spring in his step.
"I'm never going to be your secret Santa again!" Peter shouted after Neal.
"Merry Christmas, Peter," Neal said as he sauntered away.