![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elrhiarhodanTitle: Secrets Best Left Unshared
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Diana/Christie, Neal Caffrey
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~700
Beta Credit: None
Summary: Diana and Christie, newly reunited, are out for a night of dancing. They see something very unexpected.
A/N: Originally written forwickhouse2005 for the Prompt Me Meme I did exactly a year ago. Her prompt is at the end of the story. Not part of Dance’verse.
__________________
“Di?”
There was a lull in the music and Diana turned around at the sound of her girlfriend’s voice. “What?”
“Isn’t that ...?” Christie pointed to the dance floor, where Neal Caffrey was definitely rocking to the beat.
“Yeah.” The boy definitely had some impressive moves on him.
“Didn’t know he was gay. Didn’t think he was gay. Didn’t he have a girlfriend?”
Diana wasn’t sure how to answer that. Neal had never given anyone any hint that he was anything but heterosexual, but her own personal gaydar never stopped pinging around him. And the way he was grinding against a variety of club boys on the dance floor, her suspicions were at least partially correct.
She pulled Christie towards the lounge at the back of the club, hopefully out of Neal’s line of sight. She wasn’t going to say anything, she wasn’t going to out him, and she had the feeling that things would get messy at the office if he knew she saw him here.
They found a space on the couches and relaxed, enjoying the music and pretty young things bouncing to the beat on the dance floor. Some friends - old acquaintances actually - joined them, but Diana let Christie keep up their end of the conversation while she tried to keep an unobtrusive eye on Neal, still grinding away on the dance floor.
He changed partners as the music changed, a tall blond, and beefy red-head in leather and tats, a pair of cloned twinks. Neal seems to have boundless energy, always moving, a whirling dervish, inciting desire with every turn.
Christie said something about their engagement, drawing Diana’s attention momentarily away from the dance floor. When she looked back, the music had changed and Neal was gone. She fought the urge to get up and look for him. He was a grown man and this wasn’t some sleazy joint where the mens’ room was little better than a fuckatorium. She reminded herself that Neal did four years in Sing-Sing, not a country club by any stretch of the imagination. He could take care of himself, he wasn’t her responsibility.
Maybe he was at the bar.
Diana picked up her glass and asked Christie if she wanted another Cosmo. It wouldn’t hurt to check. And Neal was at the bar, his face animated, his posture curving into the man he was talking with.
She stopped cold, from the back it looks like Neal is talking to Peter, but it couldn't be. Peter wasn’t the type of man who’d step out on his wife, nor was he the type of man who’d go to a gay dance club. And he most certainly wasn’t going to compromise himself with his subordinate. The man turned and Diana got a glimpse of his face in the mirror behind the bar.
It wasn’t Peter. But her relief was only momentary - she knew this guy. In fact, Christie had once commented at how much he looked like Peter. It was John Dickinson (and he couldn’t have a more appropriate name, fucking anything and everything he could, so long as it had a cock). Not the kind of man she’d ever want Neal to associate with (if she had any influence at all).
Diana stood there, tore between interfering and letting Neal live his own life, when bodies shifted and she accidentally stepped into his line of sight. The music changed again, strobe lights flashed and reflected and the expression on Neal’s face shifted with each pulsation. First surprise, then a handful of shades of fear.
Dickinson reached out and stroked Neal’s cheek and Diana could see longing combat with self-disgust.
She didn’t approach Neal, she didn’t linger. In this handful of seconds, she learned more about him than she had any right to know. Diana went back to the lounge and cuddled up with Christie. She closed her eyes and rested her head on her shoulder, trying to forget what she just saw, trying to erase the memory of a friend in pain, longing for what he couldn’t have.
But she couldn't forget - it was impossible to unsee. And how the hell is she going to face Neal - day in, day out, knowing that he was in love with Peter Burke.
FIN
Thank youwickhouse2005 for this terrific prompt: Neal at a Gay Club - Seen by Diana
Author:
elrhiarhodanFandom: White Collar
Rating: R
Characters/Pairings: Diana/Christie, Neal Caffrey
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: ~700
Beta Credit: None
Summary: Diana and Christie, newly reunited, are out for a night of dancing. They see something very unexpected.
A/N: Originally written for
wickhouse2005 for the Prompt Me Meme I did exactly a year ago. Her prompt is at the end of the story. Not part of Dance’verse.“Di?”
There was a lull in the music and Diana turned around at the sound of her girlfriend’s voice. “What?”
“Isn’t that ...?” Christie pointed to the dance floor, where Neal Caffrey was definitely rocking to the beat.
“Yeah.” The boy definitely had some impressive moves on him.
“Didn’t know he was gay. Didn’t think he was gay. Didn’t he have a girlfriend?”
Diana wasn’t sure how to answer that. Neal had never given anyone any hint that he was anything but heterosexual, but her own personal gaydar never stopped pinging around him. And the way he was grinding against a variety of club boys on the dance floor, her suspicions were at least partially correct.
She pulled Christie towards the lounge at the back of the club, hopefully out of Neal’s line of sight. She wasn’t going to say anything, she wasn’t going to out him, and she had the feeling that things would get messy at the office if he knew she saw him here.
They found a space on the couches and relaxed, enjoying the music and pretty young things bouncing to the beat on the dance floor. Some friends - old acquaintances actually - joined them, but Diana let Christie keep up their end of the conversation while she tried to keep an unobtrusive eye on Neal, still grinding away on the dance floor.
He changed partners as the music changed, a tall blond, and beefy red-head in leather and tats, a pair of cloned twinks. Neal seems to have boundless energy, always moving, a whirling dervish, inciting desire with every turn.
Christie said something about their engagement, drawing Diana’s attention momentarily away from the dance floor. When she looked back, the music had changed and Neal was gone. She fought the urge to get up and look for him. He was a grown man and this wasn’t some sleazy joint where the mens’ room was little better than a fuckatorium. She reminded herself that Neal did four years in Sing-Sing, not a country club by any stretch of the imagination. He could take care of himself, he wasn’t her responsibility.
Maybe he was at the bar.
Diana picked up her glass and asked Christie if she wanted another Cosmo. It wouldn’t hurt to check. And Neal was at the bar, his face animated, his posture curving into the man he was talking with.
She stopped cold, from the back it looks like Neal is talking to Peter, but it couldn't be. Peter wasn’t the type of man who’d step out on his wife, nor was he the type of man who’d go to a gay dance club. And he most certainly wasn’t going to compromise himself with his subordinate. The man turned and Diana got a glimpse of his face in the mirror behind the bar.
It wasn’t Peter. But her relief was only momentary - she knew this guy. In fact, Christie had once commented at how much he looked like Peter. It was John Dickinson (and he couldn’t have a more appropriate name, fucking anything and everything he could, so long as it had a cock). Not the kind of man she’d ever want Neal to associate with (if she had any influence at all).
Diana stood there, tore between interfering and letting Neal live his own life, when bodies shifted and she accidentally stepped into his line of sight. The music changed again, strobe lights flashed and reflected and the expression on Neal’s face shifted with each pulsation. First surprise, then a handful of shades of fear.
Dickinson reached out and stroked Neal’s cheek and Diana could see longing combat with self-disgust.
She didn’t approach Neal, she didn’t linger. In this handful of seconds, she learned more about him than she had any right to know. Diana went back to the lounge and cuddled up with Christie. She closed her eyes and rested her head on her shoulder, trying to forget what she just saw, trying to erase the memory of a friend in pain, longing for what he couldn’t have.
But she couldn't forget - it was impossible to unsee. And how the hell is she going to face Neal - day in, day out, knowing that he was in love with Peter Burke.
Thank you
wickhouse2005 for this terrific prompt: Neal at a Gay Club - Seen by Diana 
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-04-19 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-19 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-19 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-19 05:07 pm (UTC)Make it better, please?
no subject
Date: 2013-04-19 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-19 09:28 pm (UTC)And that you reunited Diana and Christie :)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-20 02:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-20 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-20 06:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-20 07:59 am (UTC)The best possible heartbreak, really. Thank you :D
no subject
Date: 2013-04-20 02:20 pm (UTC)I love Diana's protectiveness and how it was turned on its ear.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-20 07:10 pm (UTC)I always like it when Diana shows how much she likes and understands Neal and on the show I loved it when she came to Neal for a talk in season 4.
♥