Work Text:
[1.]
Peter should have known from the beginning of his long acquaintance with Neal Caffrey that he was too deep in the rabbit hole known as the conman's life. Each day that has passed ever since the first encounter Peter has considered dropping the Caffrey case, but the mystery keeps unfolding and he knows deep down that he would regret giving up on Neal.
Neal had really come a long way from where he was when they first met, and he was honestly so proud of him, he had never come around to ever admitting that to Neal, and he doubted that there ever would be a moment perfect enough to admit to the conman that he was proud of him and really appreciated their teamwork.
Despite having come far from where he started the conman still had a few bad habits, none of them were too bad, but each time Peter saw Neal do one of them, he was reminded that even if you take the man out of the con he would still be a conman, but he was hopeful for Neal’s future.
A habit he really tried to tolerate was Neal’s stealing, he was growing more and more certain that it was a sixth sense of the conmans, perhaps he just stole subconsciously, nonetheless Neal stole and it was one of his bad habits.
The stealing had decreased significantly during his time as a criminal informant, but it still happened occasionally. Peter was trying to be patient with him and slowly leading him to a life without the need for stealing or as Neal would call it “lending things with no intent of returning them”.
The times he had been standing down in the parking lot searching his bag and pockets for his car keys had however prompted him to lose all his patience. For a whole week the conman had been “lending” his car keys just to hold on to them until the moment where Peter sighed in defeat and would be about to walk home, then the ever so kind Neal Caffrey would hand over the keys with a sly smile.
Peter wasn’t even the only victim of Neal’s sticky fingers, everyone in the office had experienced it, even Hughes. It had reached the point that if anyone was missing something they would call out for Neal expecting him to have the thing they were looking for.
It was a wonder June even let Neal live in her house, especially since her house was full of expensive things that could belong in a museum. June insisted that Neal had never stolen from her, but Peter had his doubts.
The stealing was only handy in emergencies, Neal’s sticky fingers had a habit of grabbing keys and other useful things. One time they had been handcuffed by a group of criminals who didn’t take it lightly when they realised that the FBI were on their trail.
Neal had somehow gotten his hands on the keys to the handcuffs, and within a few seconds he had escaped the handcuffs, he didn’t immediately help Peter escape, instead prompting to taunt the criminals about their bad kidnapping skills. The situation was thankfully resolved quickly as Jones had grown concerned about the radio silence. (Peter’s personal guardian angel)
[2.]
Neal rubbed his eyes and blinked fast with them as if trying to stay awake. He had been that way ever since Peter picked him up this morning, and if similar things hadn’t happened before, he might have been more worried.
Diana had been eyeing him and snickering each time he stifled a yawn, there was no mercy from her, she had also dropped a stack of paperwork on his table and told with a wicked smile on her face that she expected them to be done before the end of the day.
Peter would have done the same, if Neal didn’t look moments away from death's doorstep. Instead he opted for looking concerned at his CI, why wasn’t he getting enough sleep? It was obvious that he had been avoiding sleep for a while now, he had shopping bags under his eyes and he had tried to cover them with concealer, but it was obvious that he was half asleep because the concealer wasn’t even properly blended.
Turning away his gaze from Neal, Peter started doing his share of paperwork, he had to finish it before their afternoon meeting which Jones would be hosting. He knew that the other agent had been slightly anxious about having to host the meeting, but he kept on reassuring Jones, he was great at everything work related, so why wouldn’t he be great at meetings?
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Neal’s head hit the desk, Diana looked slightly concerned but she had a fond smile on her face. Peter made a mental reminder to try and give Neal a day off, it was obvious that he needed it, there was no point in exhausting him more than he already was.
He just wished Neal would come clean about what he was doing that resulted in him losing sleep, he believed Neal when the conman said he wasn’t up to any new cons, but something was still taking away his sleep, and sleep was important for FBI agents, even if they were only criminal informants.
********
The door to the meeting room closed behind Neal when he entered, he bleared at the bright lights. Did he have a migraine? Peter really hoped he didn’t have a migraine and had showed up at work, he was going to have to have a serious talk with Neal later.
Jones smiled fondly at Neal’s tiredness “Great, now that everyone is here, let’s get started.”
The meeting was about some new updated rules surrounding art crimes, Peter listened intently and made sure to write down some notes about it. Afterall he had to be up to date on everything about art, especially when he had a CI that had a love for the finer things in life.
A sudden bump could be heard in the room and everyone's eyes darted to Neal, who was laying with his head on the meeting table sleeping. Peter cursed him silently and shook his CI, who within seconds opened his eyes and blinked confused.
“Wha-” Neal murmured.
“Neal, please be so kind and tell everyone what Jones has been briefing us on”
Jones laughed and smiled at Neal “Yeah, come on Neal.”
He sighed “How far along were we?”
Peter was about to object and say that it was cheating, but Jones didn’t seem to care.
“We reached the point about forgeries”
“Mm” Neal cleared his voice and began recounting every word that Jones had said, word for word. Peter startled a bit, Neal hadn’t even been paying attention, how did he do that? Was he just scaringly up to date with laws surrounding his previous crimes?
Diana and Peter’s eyes caught each other, both were suspicious. He had to talk with Diana and Jones later, they were going to have to up the security around Neal, they couldn’t have him commit anymore crimes, not when he was doing so good.
Perhaps that was why he had been losing significantly more sleep the past week, was he planning a new con?
[3.]
Peter’s phone rang while he was baking, his hands were covered in dough, he contemplated not answering it, but when he saw who was calling he picked it up and therefore covered his phone in dough.
He quickly said “Hi Neal, what is wrong?”
Silence came out from the other end of the call, Peter repeated himself, hoping that the worry in his voice wasn't clear.
“Neal, what's wrong?”
He finally got his answer in the form of a very slurred greeting. “Hi Peter!”
Concern flooded him, what had he done this time?
“Neal?”
A slurred answer came “Peter, what's up?”
He began rinsing off his hands, he was afraid that he might have to go rescue his CI from something, he didn’t know yet what he had done, but there was always something amiss with Neal.
He sighed as he dried off his hands “Where are you?”
“In a car!” Neal slurred, had he been drugged?
A concerned voice from the background of the call said something that the phone didn’t catch all of “-son, are you on the phone with someone?”
Peter listened intently, trying to recognize the voice, it was a young male's voice, it was sadly not Mozzie (was it really sadly? Peter wasn’t going to elaborate on that thought), he didn’t remember Neal introducing any new friends, but that really shouldn’t surprise him, he had hardly known that Mozzie was a living breathing human before they accidentally met.
Neal answered the person, still slurring his words “I am on a call with Peter”
A deep sigh could be heard “Oh please for the love of god-”
Rustling could be heard and a screech of a car and a reluctant Neal who shouted out “Don’t take him away from me!”
The gentle male voice was more apparent now “Hi, you are Peter I suppose?”
Peter was standing in his hallway, one shoe on and car keys in his hands, he was ready to come get Neal if he was in trouble, he really wouldn’t mind looking a bit out for his friend.
“Affirmative, and you are?”
“I am Di…” The person on the other end stopped and seemed to think a bit too long “One of Neal’s drinking friends”
Peter was instantly more worried, he knew that Neal liked a good bottle of wine, but he had been slurring his words, should he start keeping track of his conmans drinking?
“Shall I come pick him up?” He hurried to add “I don’t mind at all”
“Don’t worry” Neal’s friend assured him “Neal is fine, he will be ready to work tomorrow.”
“But-”
The line cut off and Peter was left standing in his hallway, he had hoped that he would get the chance to actually come pick Neal up and give him a lecture on how to show more self restraint regarding all the good things in life. He knew that he had been a convict, but prison couldn’t possibly be that bad, could it?
******
Peter nervously tapped the steering wheel, Neal was late once again, but after the frankly worrying call yesterday he suspected that the conman might have a bit of a hangover, he wanted to berate him for drinking on a weekday, but he didn’t have the heart to do it.
Not wanting to wait for his CI any longer Peter exited the car and entered the house, Neal had likely just overslept thanks to the hangover he probably was suffering from, he walked up the stairs and when he reached the door he heard a glass fall to the ground.
Alarmed he entered the room, a hand on his gun, if there was an intruder trying to beat up Neal he had to be prepared to help. His worried state wasn’t necessary, as he spotted Neal picking up pieces of a broken wine bottle.
“Neal?”
His CI jumped in surprise and turned to look at him, both his eyes were slightly swollen and he sported two black eyes. He tried to play it off nonchalantly, but the surprise seeped into his voice. “Hi Peter!”
“Are you okay?”
Peter rushed over to Neal and tilted his head slightly up so he could have a closer look at his eyes, his pupils were slightly too dilated, which wasn’t a big surprise, especially not when he was sporting two black eyes.
What was going on? Peter surveyed the room and registered a concerning amount of empty wine bottles. He looked suspiciously at Neal, was he still drunk? His CI seemed to sway a bit, and he did look a bit more pale than usual.
First things first “Who hit you?”
Neal laughed sheepishly and rubbed his neck “I slipped”
That was a lie.
“Have you had anything to drink today?”
Neal’s brows furrowed and he swayed a bit “No?”
Peter sighed, he was going to have to intervene.
“Go back to bed, I’ll clean this up.”
Like a good little boy Neal walked back to his bedroom and he heard the signature creak of his bed. Knowing that Neal was gone Peter sprung into action, he began throwing the empty bottles away and found a few bags.
Neal’s beloved wine was going on a holiday to the Burke’s house until he learned that alcohol shouldn’t be consumed in worrying amounts, especially not on weekdays.
Peter smiled, he was reminding himself of his own father.
[4.]
He sighed as he leaned back in the chair in the van, surveillance work was relaxing, or well… It would be relaxing if he didn’t have to supervise a known art thief as he walked through a museum.
It was setting a child loose in a candy shop, Peter watched the security footage with a frown, he trusted Neal, he really did, but still he knew that the conman had a weakness for art and wine. Jones would laugh at him if he said it out loud.
Neal seemed to linger at a painting, Peter sighed and spoke into the microphone “Neal, don’t even bother.”
The conman whirled around on the footage and sent a death glare at the camera, once again he was reminded of Neal’s frightening ability to spot all kinds of surveillance, if he didn’t know better he would have thought that he had gone through some kind of spy training.
Something seemed to catch Neal’s eye as he stood frozen in place staring at something, he couldn’t quite make out what it was on the grainy footage, Jones was the first to react and ask “What are you looking at?”
He was expecting it to be some kind of art or maybe a wallet that had been left behind, but Neal shook his head as if in shock “A bag?”
“Uh, Peter…” Neal trailed off as he looked at a bag on the floor “Give me two seconds.”
His CI walked towards the bag and unzipped it, Peter hissed out “Neal!”
He really couldn’t bring Neal anywhere without him causing trouble, but he soon regretted his reaction when he heard Neal catch his breath and whisper softly “Shit…”
Peter said “Please tell me that that isn’t a bomb”
He laughed faintly and replied monotonously “This is definitely not a bomb rigged to explode soon”
Jones cursed and tried to leave the van, Peter shook his head.
“I’ll take this one”
He hurried out the van, damned be the mission, they had to protect all the innocent civilians, he ran inside the museum, skidding past the security guards who looked at him weirdly, he spotted his CI standing helplessly with the bomb bag in hand.
He really ought to teach Neal more standard FBI protocols.
“Slowly hand it to me”
Willingly Neal did just that and whispered “What the fuck do we do?”
Peter looked shocked, he usually didn’t swear. “We evacuate and call in a bomb squad.”
“May I try to disable it?”
He looked at his CI like he was insane, disabling bombs wasn’t just something you learned overnight. “No, that is out of the question.”
“What seems to be the problem?” A security guard had snuck up on them, it was probably due to Peter running inside the building or perhaps because they were staring at a bag.
“We need you to evacuate the building” Neal said with a smile, he rested a hand by his belt “If you don’t do it quietly within 15 minutes I am shooting everyone.”
Peter and the security guard both looked at him with widened eyes, slowly the guard backed away and started shooing people out, they were all understandably confused.
He hissed at his friend “You can’t just do that?!”
Neal shrugged “I just did, and,” he waved his arms around “It worked”
Peter was going to have to write a long complicated report and the possibility of him having to make a written apology was growing with a worrying speed.
“So, what now?”
“Stay here, guard the bomb” He ordered “I am gonna help with evacuating.”
“Be careful” Neal smiled and did a mocking salute and stayed, he was looking awfully suspicious, but Peter didn’t have the possibility of staying and keeping an eye on his troublemaking CI, he just had to trust him like he always did.
******
Peter had set an alarm on his watch, it would ring when there was under 3 minutes left on the timer on the bomb, he was standing outside counting down the seconds, everyone had been evacuated safely, and he had gotten a chance to explain what was really happening to the security guard who had been a victim to Neal’s neverending charm.
At the thought of Neal he looked around searching for his friend, where was he? He scanned the crowd not registering the face of the man, he did it once more, Neal should be outside by now.
He gritted his teeth, there were two possible options for what Neal was doing, actually there were three. 1) Neal was trying to steal everything inside the building before it blew. 2) Neal was going to use the explosion as a distraction for when he escaped and lastly 3) Neal was hurt and needed someone to help him.
“Jones?” Peter said in a panicked tone “Have you seen Neal?”
His coworker turned around with a confused expression “Neal?”
He made it sound like he had never ever heard of a person named ‘Neal’, despite having worked beside one for a long time by now.
“Yeah Neal” Peter scoffed at him “The man who brings us coffee each morning?”
“Ohhh.” Jones rubbed his neck absentmindedly “I haven’t seen him around, although I could use a cup of coffee.”
Did he just not care?
Peter was going to go grey from all the worrying about Neal, while Jones would keep on looking too young and innocent to have been in the military or work as an FBI agent.
He looked down at the timer on his watch, there was less than two minutes left now “I should go inside and get him.”
“No,” Jones said, alarmed. “You can’t walk inside that building, it's certain death.”
Peter scowled at him and hissed “So Neal is allowed to be blown to pieces but I am not?” He continued furiously “I am supposed to protect him, what kind of protector am I if I let him blow up?”
Jones put both his hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes “Neal isn’t dumb enough to get blown up ag-”
There was a loud bang and Peter felt a breeze of wind rush past them as the building they previously had been inside fell down in a pile, civilians around them screamed and in their panic they began running away.
He was looking breathlessly at the building when a sense of doom rushed over him, Neal hadn’t gotten out. He took a deep breath, Neal wouldn’t be defeated by a bomb, he had done so many dangerous things, surely a bomb wouldn’t kill him?
Jones and him were standing in silence beside each other, both taking in the sight of the building, firefighters had shown up and were searching the rumbles of the building.
“What are we looking at?”
His head snapped to look behind him, Neal was standing there in all his glory, on the ground beside him was an impressive pile of artworks. Jones just smiled at him and gave him a fistbump.
Peter stared at him “I thought you blew up?”
Neal laughed "The devil doesn't want me back"
“You…” Peter wanted to scream at him, to tell him what a dumbass he was for selflessly sacrificing himself just to get some art out of a building, art could always be remade, but Neal? Neal was an original, he couldn't just be replaced.
Neal smiled at him with his dumb charming smile “I?”
Peter pulled him into a hug and muttered “Never pull a stunt like that again”
The CI laughed and hugged him back, “I might start doing it more, you need some action in your life.”
[5.]
Neal slammed the door behind him as he left the meeting room, the sound seemed to echo in the small room. Everyone looked at each other in shocked silence.
He usually didn’t have big reactions to any of their cases, but when they were being briefed on a case about children who were used as mules for transporting Neal had reacted a bit extreme.
His reaction fit into Peter’s theory about Neal having had a difficult childhood, he still hadn’t concluded if he had been abused as a child or if he had been homeless or a child wronged by the system.
Jones was the first to react “I’ll just go and talk to him”
“No,” Peter held up a hand as to stop him “I’ll do it”
Diana didn’t speak up, she just looked down at the papers on the table. He slowly rose from his chair and exited the room.
The people in the bullpen looked momentarily up from their work to see what kind of drama was happening with Peter’s team. His team seemed to provide endless entertainment for everyone in the White Collar department.
He really didn’t know what he was going to say to Neal, but he still had to try. Neal had gone outside in the alleyway, the one the people who usually smoked stood in. Not that Neal would ever smoke.
Peter knew a few things about Neal, and from that he had been able to make a profile of other things that fit him. One thing that was certain was that he disliked the usage of drugs, and therefore he had come to the conclusion that he must dislike smoking as well.
Slowly he pushed open the door outside, Neal was leaning up against a wall with a lighter in his hand and his other hand was reaching into a pocket in his suit. He stopped immediately when he spotted Peter.
He sighed and said “What now?”
Peter shrugged “Just wanted to make sure you are not going to do anything stupid.”
Neal laughed drily at him and slowly put the lighter back into his pocket, he eyed the movement. Why would he even have a lighter on him? Was he going to have to start worrying about him committing arson on top of stealing and conning people?
“So,” Neal gestured towards himself “I’m not doing anything illegal”
He deadpanned “I can see that.”
“Great, then go inside and finish the briefing?”
“Well…” Peter took an assessing look at his CI “I just might stay a bit”
Neal sighed and muttered “Fine, you asked for this then.”
He furrowed his brows in confusion, but soon that confusion morphed into surprise when he saw Neal take out a cigarette and his lighter. The lighter was actually quite unique, it was one of those old fashioned ones, on it were the initials ‘A.P.’ which hinted at it having been stolen or thrifted.
Neal lit the cigarette and puffed on it.
It was slightly weird to see him smoking, but somehow it could fit into the whole mysterious Neal Caffrey schtick. Peter wasn’t going to say what he was thinking, instead he started out with a simple "Smoking is bad"
Neal laughed "My family says the same"
Peter’s eyes widened, this was the first time he had heard Neal mention family, he had always just assumed he was another child failed by the adoption system.
"I think I might like your family then"
The conman beside him smiled and nodded "I think so too"
“It might kill you?”
Neal looked at him with a stare that said that he had heard that comment millions of times.
“Hah,” He laughed dryly, letting a cloud of smoke escape. “Everyone keeps telling me that smoking will kill me, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Yet?” Peter smiled, he really had a way with words, everytime death was mentioned he made it seem insignificant and like something that he had come to terms with a long time ago. It was like speaking to an old man who had experienced too much in his life.
"So," Peter tried "Why aren't you quitting?"
He pondered before answering "I started when I was a kid, my dad hated it but he couldn’t get me to stop. I quit for a while when I was a teen" Neal shrugged "and the habit came back again"
Peter was about to make a comment about how he agreed with his father, but he refrained. He muttered "You are walking into an early death with those cigarettes"
Neal laughed loudly as if he had just told a joke, he laughed more when he saw Peter’s confused look. He coughed "Damn, you might be the death of me before"
He furrowed his brows "I would never kill you"
Neal blew out a cloud of smoke and stubbed his cigarette “Let’s go back inside.”
Peter sighed, Neal wasn’t one for deep and meaningful conversations, he always seemed to joke his way out of them. It was obvious that he feared the aftermath if he ever told the entire truth, but Peter was ready, he was ready to face the truth.
[+1.]
Peter knew that Jones had a tendency to have a few wild nights here and there, but that was fine, he was afterall a young man who should get to experience the world and have fun before life caught him and he suddenly was 40 with no ambitions or friends.
A thing he wished Jones would do was take better care of himself. Currently he looked as if he had rolled around in a dumpster, fought with a cat and thereafter showed up at work. He had a scratch down the side of his face, Jones had laughed when Peter asked about it, and stated with a shrug and a very mysterious tone ‘Nights in New York can get wild’.
That statement was very true, Peter had read in his morning newspaper that Signal and Red Hood (A very unlikely duo) had teamed up against a group of ninjas who had taken up residency in New York, he was just grateful that Jones hadn’t been involved in that.
Neal had called sick, stating that the flu that was going around the office had finally claimed him as its newest victim, he had reassured Peter that June was taking excellent care of him and that he would soon recover again.
The odds of Jones having caught the flu were high, he sure looked like someone who needed a break, or maybe that was just his hangover? Diana had cackled at her dishevelled looking colleague and told him that he should drink less if he couldn’t handle the day after.
Jones had dragged his finger across his throat and scowled viscously at her, it was so out of character for him that she buckled over in laughter.
As the day stretched on Jones began looking more and more pale, Peter had made sure to walk by with some snacks and drinks to make sure his coworker wasn't going to die right in front of him. Despite being an FBI agent Peter never got used to death, especially not the deaths of those around him.
Peter was by no means a short and helpless man, but he was growing older despite his best efforts to stay young. He was having the slightest bit of trouble putting a box up on a high shelf when Jones just happened to walk by.
(Peter knew fully well that Jones had followed him because he knew Peter was going to struggle. He was pretty sure Jones knew that Peter knew why Jones followed, but neither of them were gonna be the first to break)
Jones smiled as he sauntered over to his colleague in need “Need some help old man?”
“No” Peter grumbled at him.
Despite having refused the help he still got it in the form of a sly smile and a quick push at the box which slotted right into place. Followed by Jones hissing in pain and clutching his side.
“Who's an old man no-” Peter stopped mid quip when he noticed the red blotch on his friend's shirt.
Jones looked down and realised he had been caught red handed (quite literally)
“You’re bleeding.”
“Oh wow, really?” He laughed “I hadn't noticed”
Peter’s mind was racing fast, what had his dumb friend actually been up to last night? Had he gone out and brawled with a knife wielding maniac? Had he finally decided to crack and follow in Neal’s footsteps? They were suspiciously close and had been from the moment they laid eyes on eachother, it had been as if they had merged into one unit.
“Peter, look at me” Jones’ soothing, way too young voice said “I just tore a few stitches, it's no biggie”
“But-”
“No buts” He tried to laugh but choked a bit, probably from the pain. “I'll take a few days off if it soothes you”
Peter wanted nothing more than to lecture him on how to take better care of yourself, but deep down he knew he had been ten times worse when he was younger, so he just nodded.
“El and I will be over with some food for you” He promised “You take care of yourself, okay kid?”
He frowned his eyebrows “Not gonna ask me how I did it?”
“I'm not gonna make you lie to my face”
Jones laughed “You know us too well”
Us?
Neal and Jones?
They really did act the same sometimes.