![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elrhiarhodanTitle: What Good Is a Poker Face When You've Got an Open Hand?
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Elizabeth Burke, Neal Caffrey, Pre-Peter/Neal, Pre-Peter/Elizabeth/Neal
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: NONE
Word Count: 300 – Exactly
Prompt: #110 - Smile
Summary: Elizabeth sees Neal very clearly.
A/N: Written for my dearest friend,theatregirl7299 on a long ago Prompt Me Meme. Her prompt is at the bottom of the fic. Today is her birthday and I’ve been so wrapped up in mundane matters that I haven’t had the chance to write something new for her. Happiest of birthdays, my sweet friend!
Title from the Ani DiFranco song, Worthy.
__________________
Elizabeth knows that the suits, the ties, the perfect grooming are all part of Neal Caffrey's mask, the public face of a man who's intensely private. She knows the smiles, the bad-boy grin, the know-it-all's smirk, the toothy "trust me" smile of an unrepentant con man. They are all masks.
Neal Caffrey is not an easily known quantity - the facts and suppositions that populate the files her husband's amassed don't come close to delineating the truth of the man. Yes, he's a con artist extraordinaire. He can tell you the sun is shining at midnight and you'll believe him. He's a thief, too. Stealing is more than second nature to him, although these days, the only things he's stealing are hearts.
He's also a man capable of great honor, extraordinary courage, possessed of a fierce intelligence that masks a soul that needs love the way a flower needs light.
She's made a study of watching him, learning what makes him who he is, since the moment he first rang her door bell and introduced himself. Peter might think he knows the man, but that knowledge is imperfect. Peter looks at Neal and sees a puzzle, a riddle to be solved - even after all these years. Elizabeth looks at him and sees a man of deep vulnerability, someone who's too afraid of his desires to wear his heart on his sleeve.
She keeps her own counsel, though. For now, at least. There's time enough for all of them. Neal's on that leash for a few more years, he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Peter doesn't realize it, but he's on a leash too. He's tethered to Neal as firmly as Neal is to him. And even when that anklet comes off, neither one of them will be free.
FIN
theatregirl7299's prompt was Masks - Peter/Neal
Author:
elrhiarhodanFandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Elizabeth Burke, Neal Caffrey, Pre-Peter/Neal, Pre-Peter/Elizabeth/Neal
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: NONE
Word Count: 300 – Exactly
Prompt: #110 - Smile
Summary: Elizabeth sees Neal very clearly.
A/N: Written for my dearest friend,
theatregirl7299 on a long ago Prompt Me Meme. Her prompt is at the bottom of the fic. Today is her birthday and I’ve been so wrapped up in mundane matters that I haven’t had the chance to write something new for her. Happiest of birthdays, my sweet friend!Title from the Ani DiFranco song, Worthy.
Elizabeth knows that the suits, the ties, the perfect grooming are all part of Neal Caffrey's mask, the public face of a man who's intensely private. She knows the smiles, the bad-boy grin, the know-it-all's smirk, the toothy "trust me" smile of an unrepentant con man. They are all masks.
Neal Caffrey is not an easily known quantity - the facts and suppositions that populate the files her husband's amassed don't come close to delineating the truth of the man. Yes, he's a con artist extraordinaire. He can tell you the sun is shining at midnight and you'll believe him. He's a thief, too. Stealing is more than second nature to him, although these days, the only things he's stealing are hearts.
He's also a man capable of great honor, extraordinary courage, possessed of a fierce intelligence that masks a soul that needs love the way a flower needs light.
She's made a study of watching him, learning what makes him who he is, since the moment he first rang her door bell and introduced himself. Peter might think he knows the man, but that knowledge is imperfect. Peter looks at Neal and sees a puzzle, a riddle to be solved - even after all these years. Elizabeth looks at him and sees a man of deep vulnerability, someone who's too afraid of his desires to wear his heart on his sleeve.
She keeps her own counsel, though. For now, at least. There's time enough for all of them. Neal's on that leash for a few more years, he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Peter doesn't realize it, but he's on a leash too. He's tethered to Neal as firmly as Neal is to him. And even when that anklet comes off, neither one of them will be free.
theatregirl7299's prompt was Masks - Peter/Neal
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-02-17 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-18 01:38 am (UTC)It just goes to show that El is smarter than all of them!!!
Thank you so much.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-18 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-18 06:48 pm (UTC)*favorites*
(Though now I'm craving Neal-and-Peter-on-actual-leashes fic... *slinks away*)
no subject
Date: 2014-02-19 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-19 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-20 03:17 pm (UTC)I especially like the ending. That is so the truth. : )
"Peter doesn't realize it, but he's on a leash too. He's tethered to Neal
as firmly as Neal is to him. And even when that anklet comes off, neither one of them will be free."