Title: Happy Australia Day
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Neal Caffrey, Peter Burke
Prompt #228 - Festive
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: 300 – Exactly
Summary: It's the third battle of the Cute War and Peter's more than ready to wave the white flag.

A/N: You had to figure, after this post, that something like this was soon to follow.

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Peter rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out an exasperated sigh. First were the golden retriever puppies. If he closed his eyes, Peter could still see Neal getting licked by a rolly-poly bundle of golden fluff. And of course, the puppy wouldn't dream of peeing on Neal and his perfectly fitted suit.

Neal had begged to keep the puppy and made Peter feel like ten tons of shit when he had to say no. Besides, they'd later found out that all of those dogs were stolen and had to be returned to their rightful owner, a sleezeball puppy mill operator. Neal gave him the silent treatment and Peter felt like a murderer for weeks afterwards.

And then there were the red pandas. Peter couldn't stop imagining Neal as a zookeeper, having the time of his life caring for those wild, but way-too-adorable creatures. He had nightmares about Neal feeding the red pandas apples and bamboo shoots while dressed in his best Devore suit. It didn't help that in his dream, the red pandas were wearing grey fedoras.

But today was the worst.

He'd looked up from his computer to see that everyone was gathered around Neal's desk, which was nothing new. Except that Diana was actually cooing, and Diana Berrigan never cooed.

Peter went downstairs, half expecting Neal to be in possession of a baby. And he was, except the baby wasn't human, but a kangaroo, complete with a diaper festively decorated with the Australian flag and a tiny yellow vest sporting a logo, "Certified Service Animal".

He had to admit that with the big liquid-dark eyes, big ears and those tiny fists, it was rather coo-worthy.

Peter didn't bother to ask why Neal was in possession of a baby kangaroo. He just commented, "Happy Australia Day" and left it at that.

FIN