White Collar Ficlet - At Night, It's a Different World

[elrhiarhodan]

Title: At Night, It’s a Different World
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Elizabeth Burke, Neal Caffrey, Peter/Elizabeth/Neal
Spoilers: Vague for S4.16
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: NONE
Word Count: 400
Summary: It’s a hot night in the city, and Peter and Neal go looking for a treat.

A/N: Title from The Lovin’ Spoonful classic, Summer in the City


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Because it's Brooklyn and it's summer time, there are gourmet ice cream trucks on almost every block. Neal's gotten good at finding the best ones, and El tells then to bring her back a cup of blueberry sorbet. She's too comfortable to find her shoes and go with them for a walk. Satchmo's equally lazy.

Neal's favorite flavor is Rocky Road and Peter thinks that's all too telling. Neal simply licks his cone and gives Peter a look that says "stop reading into this...it's just ice cream." But Peter can't quite stop thinking about it. After all, his lover's life has never been easy. Uprooted at three, dreams destroyed at eighteen. A life of crime. Prison. Kate. Everything.

Neal might smile and walk through life as if the red carpet was rolling out in front of his every step, but Peter knows the truth. The life of Neal Caffrey is a rocky and unpaved road, filled with ruts and holes that could trap him forever, or just as easily break him to pieces.

Peter likes pistachio ice cream. They go out for Chinese food and Peter orders a dish of the green stuff and eats it with great relish. Neal thinks its vile, worse than his deviled ham sandwiches. Besides, it doesn't taste anything like pistachios. Peter says that his dad used to get him pistachio ice cream every Saturday night in the summer. There was this ice cream shop and they'd walk there and …

Peter's voice trails off. He remembers that Neal doesn't have memories like these. His memories of his father are filled with lies and blood and shame.

But Neal says, "go on...the ice cream shop?" He's interested, he really wants to hear about Peter's boyhood. So he tells him about being a kid in upstate New York, with a father who made time to teach him how to hold a bat and pitch a ball and see that he got his homework done every night, about summers filled with the carefree days of childhood and winter evenings knowing that his family was nearby.

Walking back to the house, Peter looks over at Neal. He's got on that shy smile - the honest one that made Peter fall in love with him in the first place. He wishes that Neal could have shared his childhood, but he's also glad that Neal is the man he is now, too.

FIN

Comments

[miri-thompson.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful and honest assessment of Neal on Peter's part--I'm glad that Neal can appreciate his memories without, apparently, resenting them. Lovely!

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very much. I think that Neal longs for the "real family" experience so much that he can wants live it by proxy.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Yay schmoop!

I love how Peter stops when he realizes the subject might be painful, but Neal wants to share in his memories.

[elrhiarhodan]

Yah for schmoop with just a hint of angst (because it's me, you know!)

Thank you!

[lauracollared.livejournal.com]

Oh, I *loved* this! I feel like deep down Neal is a happy, optimistic, romantic person. There's the top layer of Neal that is shiny, show-y, brilliant, and perfect at everything. And below that is melancholy, worry, fear, and loss. Peter sees that layer, but I think Peter also gets to see the layer *below* that -- a layer maybe almost no one else has ever seen. Maybe Mozzie sees it. Ellen. And it's that hopeful, loving, calm Neal that just wants to hear about Peter's fun childhood and then go home and cuddle with him and El and Satchmo. I guess it's the child side of Neal -- that part of him that is not jaded and scarred.

Errr I don't know why your fic made me think/feel all that and then write it down. Sorry? ;p

<3

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you for such a lovely and well-articulated comment. You're right, I think that Neal has this deep core of optimism, that it's all going to work out. But that is also leavened by the realities of his life and the losses that have piled up. He's no Candide.

Don't apologize for letting me know how much my little ficlet has made you think. I appreciate this more than you know.

[kanarek13]

Awwww, yes, THIS! :D That is exactly how I often find myself thinking about Neal, that whatever happened in his life, it made him the man he is now and I don't think I would want him to be different. Neither would Peter :D

Love it how Peter is careful not to hurt Neal, but at the same time Neal really wants to hear about Peter's childhood, awwww!

Perfect wake-up story for me \o/ Thank you :D

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you! Yes - Neal's got a troubled past, but he has not let it defeat him. And Peter understands that there's a fragility to Neal and does his best to avoid wounding him further.

[dizzydrea.livejournal.com]

Awwww... This was just so sweet and yet a little melancholy at the same time. But mostly sweet, and not just because of the ice cream. Most people would take the ice cream and go in a naughty or flirty direction, but you went with memories of family and home, and it was perfect. Brava!

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you - sweet and melancholy is just the tone I was hoping to achieve. And yeah - I did take it in an unexpectly emotional direction. I like to do that!

[sapphire2309]

Neal's smile in the end could make anyone fall for him.

[elrhiarhodan]

Yes - that smile gets me all the time.

[daria234.livejournal.com]

I love how you capture the languidness of summer days and slow walks for ice cream. I also like how Peter worries that his happy memories might be painful to hear for Neal but then realizes that Neal wants them anyway. Nicely done.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you. Even though I didn't live in Brooklyn as a child (and Brooklyn back then was a place to be feared), I do have wonderful memories of going for ice cream with my dad. That's where a lot of this story comes from.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

So sweet and gentle...

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very much.

[monkeyonthelam.livejournal.com]

What a lovely slice of life you showed here. As I sit across from you at your kitchen island table.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very much.

[sinfulslasher]

Okay, first of all, how could Peter possibly string two words together, much less form an entire sentence, while Neal is standing next to him licking an ice cream cone?!?!?! GUH!

Second of all, damn you for managing to capture their relationship, Neal's complicated character, and the whole mood of a hot summer day in just 400 words?!?! *shakes fist*

This was brilliant and such a wonderful insight into Neal. I love how he wants to hear about Peter's childhood without resentment or regret for his own lost childhood. I love how Peter stops and thinks and worry that he might hurt Neal. *smishes them both* And my goodness, that shy smile? I love Neal's shy smile. It's my favorite. :D

*bookmarks*

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very much. It seems like either I write epics or I write ficlets. Don't know or understand how this keeps happening!

And while Peter may have a hard time (snerk) with watching Neal lick an ice cream cone, Neal's frankly oblivious. He's caught up in the moment - having the family he's always dreamed of.

[damietta.livejournal.com]

Neal will have good memories with Peter and El (and Satchmo).

And, there really are few things in life more simple and peaceful than a walk to get an ice cream cone.

[elrhiarhodan]

Hey there, my friend. Good to see you again.

Going for ice cream - one of my best childhood memories.

[pipilj.livejournal.com]

Aww this was so cute. Loved Peter analysis of Neal and Neal wanting to hear about his childhood with rancor. Smudges both of them

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very much!

[calis-1st.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful story, with Peter's thoughts about the challenges Neal faced throughout his life, and Neal wanting to know about Peter's happy childhood. I adore the last paragraph. Thanks so much for posting this.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you!

I think that Neal has such a deep longing for family that he will hold on to the childhood experiences of those he loves and make them his own. Not in a creepy way - but that he'll internalize the experience.

[ladyrose42.livejournal.com]

It's just like Peter to analyze Neal thru his choice of ice cream and his life. What does pistachio say about Peter?

[elrhiarhodan]

Pistachio says that Peter has the same taste in ice cream as he does in ties.

Thank you!

[love-82.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was really nice! You captured so much in such a short piece. I really like the quite sweetness of this. The domesticity of it. Lovely look at Peter and Neal.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very much. I do love writing these little domestic moments.

[snowdrop3100.livejournal.com]

Awww, very sweet and fluffy.

Loved Peter's insight and Neal's willingness if not even happiness to share in Peter's childhood memories.

Reading the other comments, I find myself nodding and smiling...somehow reading the comments makes me enjoy the story itself even more.

So, thank you very, very much for writing and sharing :).

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you so very, very much for such lovely feedback.

[sandy79.livejournal.com]

Love, love, love it! I always love these little insights in their past, be it good or bad, since we never really got enough of them in the show. But that's what excellent fanfiction writers like you, my dear, are here for. A heartily thank you for that alone.
Neal never seemed to me to be a man to hold a grudge or resentment against anyone who had a more normal life than he had. And here I get the impression that he relives his childhood through Peter, that he replaces the bad memories with Peter's good ones. Which you captured in an absolutely delicious and wonderful way. Once again, thank you for sharing!