elrhiarhodan: (S3 Promo - Neal and Peter Standing)
[personal profile] elrhiarhodan
Title: The Special Parts (barefoot in the garden)
Author: [livejournal.com profile] elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey, Elizabeth Burke, (Peter/Neal/Elizabeth)
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Reference to possible dub-con
Word Count: ~ 1000
Summary: Peter knows the whole is better than the sum of its parts, but some parts are very special.

A/N: Written as a fill for [livejournal.com profile] coffeethyme4me, as a response to this prompt on my on-going meme.


__________________




Even though he had been a math major, Peter knew that the whole was better than the sum of its parts.

Elizabeth was more than a shapely brunette with extraordinary breasts. Neal was not merely a pair of blue eyes, great hair, and a tight ass. These two people were exceptional - at least to him (and probably the rest of the world, too). They were smart, funny, caring, committed, loyal, trustworthy (even though when he applied that adjective to Neal, there were always just a few caveats).

But when came down to the visceral components of his desire, Peter was aware he had weaknesses, strange turn-ons that only he knew about.

With his wife, there were two things (or make that four) that sent his engine into fifth gear - her toe cleavage and her naked earlobes.

It wasn’t the shoes that did it for him - it was that tiny, almost mysterious meeting of skin, disappearing into the darkness of her shoe that reminded Peter of other points where flesh met flesh.

Elizabeth’s earlobes were another story. With her hair piled high in some complex ‘do, earrings dangling to her shoulders, Peter could (and did) admire the pure beauty of her skin, the line of shoulder and neck and nape. But when the earrings came off, her hair caught up in a scrunch, and her head bent over some invoice or the newspaper or the latest bestselling thriller, Peter’s pulse raced. Maybe it was the vulnerability - the unintentional nakedness.

If he tried to explain it, El would probably chuckle and tell him to stop overanalyzing things. And he would, at least for the space of time after she lead him up the stairs, into the bedroom and had her naughty, wicked way when him.

There were also things about Neal that aroused Peter to unbearable heights. The hats, of course. Peter may have scorned them to Neal’s face - telling him he looked like a cartoon, calling them annoying, but the truth was, Neal wearing a hat - preferably the black trilby - was an instant turn on. Their first year together, he’d taken to wearing a cup, if just to hide the wood he was constantly sporting.

Peter’s reaction to the hat was now a simmer rather than a full, rolling boil - he could contain himself at work, though if Neal wore the hat in the car on the way home, sometimes he had a hard time controlling himself, especially if it drifted down, across his eyes.

It was so strange. Peter was a man who took pride in his self control. He never really wanted what he couldn’t have, and there were times when this desire, this intense need to possess Neal troubled him. Neal knew, of course. Peter couldn’t hid this from him. They talked about it one night, after Peter all but overwhelmed Neal before the door was shut.

Afterwards, when they lay together, front to back, Peter’s hand a heavy bar across Neal’s waist, he sighed, not really a sound of satisfaction - more one of puzzled resignation.

“It’s okay, Peter.” Neal’s words were really a comfort.

“No - it’s not. I shouldn’t do that to you.”

“If I didn’t want you to take my choices away, I wouldn’t let you. You know that.”

Objectively, Peter did. Neal wasn’t a doormat. He had more will, more agency than anyone he knew. “But still.”

Neal turned in his arms, rolled him on to his back and straddled him. “But nothing.” Neal’s kiss was all about power and control and for once it was easy for him to let go, to let Neal overwhelm him.

They rolled along like that for years. El and her peep-toes and her naked earlobes and his propensity to go caveman on her. Neal and his annoying little hats. Peter loved them both - the sum of them and their parts.

He was sitting on the deck, enjoying the early summer sunshine, a pleasant breeze and a cold beer. There was a easel set up in the garden, in front of a hedge of azaleas. For several years, Neal had persuaded Peter not to trim the bushes, to let them just grow wild, and it had paid off. The flowers were in riotous bloom, and Neal stood in there, drawing with languid ease, fingers stained pink and purple and green from the pastels he was using.

But it wasn’t Neal’s hands that really drew his attention, but his bare feet. Long and elegant, the middle toes slightly crooked. It occurred to Peter that he might be developing a foot fetish, given his predicable reaction to Elizabeth’s toe cleavage. But he discarded the thought. It really wasn’t Neal’s bare feet that aroused him - it was what that bareness represented. Vulnerability, strength, commitment.

After everything, the tracker long gone, Neal was still here. Their best days were still in front of them. They were Burke and Caffrey, agent and CI-turned-analyst, unlikely a story as ever told. But here, in this garden, they were Peter and Neal. Friends, partners, lovers.

Neal looked up from his drawing and smiled at Peter. He smiled back, no words were needed. Neal set his pastel back in the box, wiped his fingers on his pants, the streaks of color joining other stains, and walked towards him. He picked up Peter’s beer and took a sip, then sat down in the other lounge chair.

Peter couldn’t take his eyes off of Neal’s bare feet.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Peter smiled. He was aroused, yes - but more than that - he was happy in ways impossible to describe. He wanted to worship those grass stained soles, but he was also content to just enjoy the moment. They had plenty of time for everything, now.


FIN

Date: 2012-04-17 10:02 am (UTC)
ebeneezerdark: "Oh, yeah. THIS is MUCH better than T.V.!" Eben being morbidly amused. (Better-Than-TV)
From: [personal profile] ebeneezerdark
Nice little slice of life... and you've got Barefoot!Neal!!! (Gotta admit, I agree 100% with Peter on the turn-on value of Neal's bare feet!)

Date: 2012-04-18 12:21 am (UTC)
ebeneezerdark: Profile view of Eben from "Eben and Snooch" ("Two Lumps") cartoons. http://twolumps.net/ (Default)
From: [personal profile] ebeneezerdark
Well, how many times have we seen Matt Bomer looking anything BUT drool-bait-y? Bare feet, shirtless in those maroon cotton-knit pajama-pants reading law books, stripped down to his tank-top painting, or even suited up, tie knotted just-so, and trilby tipped down over his eyes... Hell, he even looked okay all scruffed-up with that overgrown beard and long hair in an orange jumpsuit in the pilot ep.! (Sorta pitiful... but still attractive!)

Date: 2012-04-15 02:43 pm (UTC)
ladygray99: (PeterWatch)
From: [personal profile] ladygray99
I love happy if introspective Peter.

Date: 2012-04-15 02:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nieseryjna.livejournal.com
damn you made me fell in love with Neal's bare feet...

Date: 2012-04-15 03:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lauracollared.livejournal.com
Ooooh sweet and sexy and ...... sexy. :D

Date: 2012-04-15 03:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] doctor-fangeek.livejournal.com
Thanks for a wonderful fill of a wonderful prompt. I know the prompt isn't mine, but it easily could have been. Not that I have a thing for barefoot Neal, or anything. Sure, you believed that, didn't you?

Anyway, I love it, from Peter's issues about his desire to control Neal (and Neal knowing and being okay with it), to the wonderful imagery of barefoot Neal (yum).

Date: 2012-04-15 03:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeethyme4me.livejournal.com
I adore every speck of this!! I love Peter's voice. And you know, I've never been particularly turned on by Neal's hats. He's precious in them, he's fashionable, handsome. But now. After this. It's like the light has been turned on! I can so see Peter getting turned on by the hat and getting him home and just TAKING HIM. That really did it for me. Also, if Neal continues to wear them knowing what they do to Peter, it's like he may as well be walking around in a wet bathing suit at work, you know? Neal teasing the animal. God, I love that!

I love the stuff about El's feet and ears and all of Peter's musings about them. <3

And I LOVE that last bit of scene in the yard! I think my favorite part is Neal taking a sip of Peter's beer before he sits down with him. I mean, yes, it's a pornographic sight -- Neal, bare feet, paint-stained, drinking Peter's beer -- but it also conveys their level of intimacy, Neal's feelings of safety and comfort. I just loved that.

THANK YOU!!!

Date: 2012-04-15 04:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeethyme4me.livejournal.com
You had nothing to worry about. I thought it worked out great! I want that Hat PWP now, though. ;-) :-)

Date: 2012-04-15 05:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeethyme4me.livejournal.com
Squeeeeeeeee!

Date: 2012-04-15 09:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladyrose42.livejournal.com
Must now go oogle Neal/Matt's naked feet in season 1. Like I need a real excuse to watch WC episodes again. Loved Peter;s reflection.

Date: 2012-04-15 11:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gnomi.livejournal.com
This was a lovely look at how Peter's mind works, and how he loves the people he loves.

Date: 2012-04-16 02:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daria234.livejournal.com
Love this - and the sensuality of the details, like the pastel-stained hands, the overgrown flowers, the grass stains on the feet, Neal's sip from Peter's bottle, and so on. Great.

Date: 2012-04-16 04:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pooh-collector.livejournal.com
Oh man, I've been lovin' me some bare Neal feet since we first glimsed them in Season 1.

This was very senuous. I can see naked vulnerability being a real turn on for Peter.

Date: 2012-04-16 08:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jrosemary.livejournal.com
Aw! I love every bit of over-analytic Peter! And I love the casual way Neal is part of Peter and El's lives--especially the way he walks up to Peter and takes a sip of his beer. Thank you for this lovely bit of happiness. :D

Date: 2012-04-17 04:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] elainasaunt.livejournal.com
Ooh, nice - that scene at the end especially!

Date: 2012-04-18 12:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] secretsolitaire.livejournal.com
This is beautiful! I like that Peter is turned on by unconventional things.

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