White Collar Ficlet - Tea and Sympathy

[elrhiarhodan]

Title: Tea and Sympathy
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Rating: NC-17
Characters: Elizabeth Burke, Neal Caffrey
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: Bite!Play
Word Count: ~ 400
Summary: For Some Reason, Neal Can’t Fall Sleep


Ficlet written for hoosierbitch and originally published as comment!porn in her journal.

_____________
Neal felt pleasantly wasted. Sore ass, the bite marks on his arms and shoulders, his hips and butt, were sending crescent-shaped aftershocks through his nervous system, his nipples were just this side of painfully tender. But oddly enough, he couldn't sleep.

Maybe a cup of tea. He carefully got out of bed, pulled on a pair of sleep pants and made his way downstairs. Satchmo, sleeping on the landing, lifted his head and gave Neal a rather half-hearted tail wag before dropping back into his doggie dreams.

Peter wasn't a tea drinker, and neither was Neal - though he once ran a con involving the Third Earl of Somerville and he learned very quickly that he couldn't masquerade as a proper Englishman unless he knew the mechanics of a proper cuppa. Elizabeth, on the other hand, greatly enjoyed the brew and kept a vast assortment of teas on hand - green and black and herbal, bagged and loose. Much to Peter's disgust (never voiced), she had a whole cabinet devoted to the stuff.

Neal set the pot to boil and started pillaging the cabinet for something that would help him sleep. Chamomile? Ah, there, tucked behind the canisters of Twinings was a box of SleepyTime. He leaned against the counter and savored the ache in his ass as the kettle heated.

He rubbed at one of the bite marks on the apple of his shoulder, tracing the indentations with his fingers. His cock twitched in remembered arousal. Elizabeth...he never realized that her teeth were quite so sharp.

As if his thoughts summoned her, she was briefly silhouetted in the reed glass before the kitchen door swung opened.

“Neal, is everything all right?” Her voice was low, concerned.

He held out his arms and she came to him, tucking her head against the smooth warmth of his chest.

“Was I too rough on you?”

Neal pressed his lips against the crown of her head, then smiled. “No, not at all. Peter's taught you well.”

“Good. I can't wait until he gets home - I want to show him all the bruises I left on you.”

FIN

Comments

[asimaiyat.livejournal.com]

I really like this. I like how you chose to focus on Neal's little moment of me-time afterwords -- it's an unusual perspective, and it makes you look at the encounter in a different light.

Also, unf, El's teeth and Neal's bruises...

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you. Sometimes things write themselves. This was one of them.

Neal went to bed thinking he'd have a nice relaxing evening of vanilla sex, and got biteplay and a pegging instead. No wonder why he can't sleep.

[secretsolitaire.livejournal.com]

Mmm, crescent-shaped aftershocks, I like that line. And the detail about Peter never telling El he's disgusted by her tea. And Neal savoring all the little aches afterward.

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you.

Peter's a sweetheart - he's really more disgusted that there's a whole cabinet of the stuff. I think he'd rather fill that space with beer.

[auctorial.livejournal.com]

This is so domestic and adorable and hot. El marking Neal, UNF. And the title is so perfect! Love it! <3

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you. I was listening to an old Janis Ian album when HB gave me the prompt, and ironically (or very good timing), Tea & Sympathy was playing and HB's prompt even referenced tea.

How more perfect can you get?

[ladygray99]

:-) Nice image of El marking Neal up for Peter. And I liked that it was post sex. I really have a thing for the before and after bits.

[elrhiarhodan]

I do too - maybe because I am a romantic at heart, and without the before and after bits, it becomes a matter of mechanics (although when written well, the before and after bits can be incorporated into the mechanics. My prompter, hoosierbitch is the mistress of that.

When I grow up, I want to write porn like her.

[hoosierbitch.livejournal.com]

*happyhappysighsigh*

I LOVE THIS FICLET SO MUCH. It's hot and calm and sweet and lovely. AND ALSO, IN CASE I DID NOT MENTION, HOT.

*happysigh*

[elrhiarhodan]

Thrilled to bits that you still like it. You wanted tea and sympathy, a little quiet domesticity between Neal and El...

Like UPS, I am happy to deliver.

[misura.livejournal.com]

Neal's innocence (in assuming Peter needed to teach Elizabeth anything about kinky sex) struck me as rather adorable, although I'm also very fond of the notion of Elizabeth having a tea cabinet, for some reason. (I don't drink a lot of tea myself, actually.)

Loved this sweet yet warming scene of the er hour-after? While-after?

[elrhiarhodan]

Thank you.

Neal is constantly surprised by El...and delighted to find how many of their kinks seem to match up.

I do find I need to write a fic about Peter telling El all about the things he does to Neal. Hmmm, maybe for my Kink Bingo Phonesex Prompt.

[krazykipper.livejournal.com]

*g* What the Americans think of my country.

Probably no worse than what British sitcoms do to Americans though. :)

This was adorable. I love the sweetness of it with the undertone of something far more dirty.