Work Text:
1
The first time it happens, it’s an accident.
A slip of the tongue that shows how much Neal has said this before, though not to Peter.
They were talking about gyros of all things when Neal says it.
Peter hasn’t ventured far from his favorite spots and Neal has much to say about that.
“You miss out on so much when you don’t venture away from your comfort! Before Anna died, we used to try a new restaurant every Saturday. Not only did we get to try a bunch of awesome food we wouldn’t have tried otherwise, we also got a nice weekly date which I know El would never turn down—”
“Anna?”
“My fiance,” he says absentmindedly, before plowing on. “Like this one time I got a gyro from this food truck and it was the best gyro I had ever had. Food trucks have better food than you’d think—”
“Your fiance?” Peter repeats, the shock drenching his words.
Neal pauses.
“You’re engaged? What about Kate?”
Neal’s face shatters for just a moment, pure raw grief and agony, before quickly disappearing behind a bright smile. “Ex-fiance technically.”
Peter wants to ask, of course he does, but that look is seared into his mind.
“So,” he says, forcing a smile just like Neal, trying to shake away the lead weight growing in his stomach. “Food trucks?”
2
Peter finds Neal, as he quite often does, distracted by a beautiful woman.
There’s something timeless about this woman’s beauty, her bright smile and brown curls. She’s clearly comfortable with Neal, indicating more than just surface level flirting, but she also keeps her distance, her touches fleeting in a way that shows some discomfort.
“Neal. There you are.” He turns to the woman. “And who’s this?”
She holds out a hand for him to shake and he doesn’t miss the way her fingers are heavily calloused. “Kendra. Me and Neal are…” She trails off. “Uhm, we were…”
“Co-workers.” “Engaged.”
Kendra and Neal meet each other’s eyes with matching wide eyed expressions.
Neal clears his throat awkwardly. “Right. Co-workers. We… were on a team together. At work.”
“And that work, that wouldn’t be…”
“No!” Neal says quickly. “This was before that.”
Peter knew, logically, that there was a “before” to Neal’s life, but he hadn’t expected that before included a fiance.
“So this is the ex-fiance that introduced you to food trucks?” Peter asks.
Neal shakes his head. “Oh, no. Different one.” He freezes, the words he just said registering.
“You’ve been engaged twice?”
“Three times actually,” Neal says, cringing harder at himself.
“In his defense, it really wasn’t his fault that we didn’t work out,” Kendra says. “He was kind of my rebound and he didn’t deserve that.”
“A rebound that led to an engagement?”
“Yeah,” Kendra rubs her arm with embarrassment. “It was definitely a ‘we were both in a new place and happened to be together’ kind of situation.”
Peter looks over to Neal and sees his quite resignation to the words, something that isn’t a fully healed emotional wound but something he’s had time to try and get over.
“And the first one wasn’t my fault either! She died.”
Peter’s brows shoot up, mostly at the cheery way Neal had said that.
“Oh, uh… I’m sorry.”
“Nah it’s okay,” Neal says, waving him off. “It was a long time ago. There were these mercenary terrorists in our city and her neck got snapped and my leg was broken so I couldn’t save her.”
That… definitely does not sound okay.
“Wait, Kendra, have you had food truck food?” Neal asks excitedly.
“Of course I’ve had food truck food. I’ve been in the twenty-first century for a while now.”
Peter doesn’t know what that means but then again he doesn’t know a lot of things apparently.
3
When Peter enters Neal’s flat, the last thing he expects to walk in on is Neal en flagrant on his kitchen counter of all places with Kate, who apparently isn’t dead.
They both jump at the sight of Peter, quickly rushing to cover themselves, Neal blushing furiously and almost hiding behind Kate despite her being almost a foot shorter than him.
“Kate?!” Peter shouts.
“You didn’t sense he was coming?” Neal hisses through his teeth to Kate.
“I’m a fairy godmother, not a Ring camera,” she hisses back.
“What,” Peter says, interrupting whatever bickering is about to start, “is going on. You’re dead!”
“The report of my death was an exaggeration,” she says flatly.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not the saying,” Peter says, brain still trying to catch up to what he’s seeing.
“Oh, it is. And Mark Twain is such a dick about the misquote.”
“Wait, Mark Twain is in hell?” Neal says, head drooping with a sad pout.
“Gonna be honest, I’m pretty sure someone in the Triumvirate just doesn’t like his books.”
“What is going on?!” Peter repeats.
Kate glances at Peter with a bored look and turns back to Neal. “Are we gonna have to use the flasher?”
“No!” Neal says quickly, voice cracking. His pout grows sadder. “Peter’s my friend.”
Kate sighs. “You are so lucky that we are in the present right now. If Sara kills you, then I’m not bringing you back.”
“Kate didn’t actually die,” Neal says, ignoring what Kate said and turning to Peter.
“Yeah… I gathered that much.”
“And we’re married now.”
Kate facepalms. “I think that’s actually the least relevant detail right now.”
Neal grins cheekily. “I know. I just like saying it.”
Peter doesn’t know why this is what first pops into mind despite everything about this situation. “What about your other fiance?”
“It was her?” Neal says, tilting his head with a puppy like confusion. “You know, because you’re engaged before you get married!”
And, well, he isn’t wrong.
+1
“Okay, wait. If you’re married to Kate, then who is he?”
“Oh, that’s my boyfriend, Nate.”
“And who is she?”
“That’s Nate’s girlfriend Zari.”
“And that’s…”
“Zari’s girlfriend Charlie.”
“...okay… I’m very confused, but somehow not as confused as I am about that.”
“Oh yeah that’s also Zari and her boyfriend Constantine and his boyfriend King Shark.”
“Ex-boyfriend!”
“Ex-boyfriend.”