Words of Wood

Right, this is the thing I am posting for my hc_bingo's "accidentally mating for life" square because I still HATE all iterations of that trope and this is literally the closest thing I'm ever going to get to it.

This is a fic snippet from when sholio and I accidentally started writing a White Collar AU in which all the characters were Fae. Well, she wrote setup and world building and excellent stuff like that, and then I skipped way ahead because I wanted to write gratuitous hurt/comfort. So when you read this and go "but there's no context, what happened previously?" the answer is that I don't know because never got around making actual plot. Hopefully the h/c will suffice for now.

Relevant background: Neal is Cait Sidhe — a cat fae — and Peter is half Cu Sidhe and half Tuatha De Dannon, so half dog fae and with teleporting powers. Peter is a knight in June's court, and Neal is… Neal. Then plot stuff happened. Neal got shot. The usual.

1000 words, gen.

( I can't believe what I'm doing for you, cat )

~

Title: you've been taken by the wind
Characters/Pairing: Neal, June, Peter, Mozzie; Gen
Rating: T
Word count: 2100
Content Notes: Character death, progressive memory loss, assisted suicide
Other Notes: This is a somewhat loose interpretation of the "de-age" square on my hc_bingo card. I floated the idea of doing a sort of Flowers for Algenon thing, and sholio and florastuart were unwise enough to encourage me.

Summary: He used to be able to look at a problem and see connections everywhere, golden glittering wires connecting everything, and now they're gone.

( you've been taken by the wind )

~

Title: Heavy Water
Characters/Pairing: Neal & Peter plus others; Gen
Rating: T
Word count: 4000
Content Notes: Car accidents, drowning
Other Notes: For kanarek13, as a get-better-soon present!
Fills the "hospital stay" square on my hc_bingo card.

Summary: Neal's on the wrong side of a high-speed chase, and he and the mark find themselves trapped in a sinking car together.

( Heavy Water )

~

Title: Relentless as the Rain (2/3)
Characters: Neal, Peter/Elizabeth, Rachel, Bruce, Mozzie
Rating: Teen
Word count: 6,100 (/20,500 total)
Content notes: SPOILERS for all of S5. Warnings for this chapter: Emotional manipulation, romantic coercion, non-consensual drug use. Deeper levels of angst than I usually write.
Other notes: This was written from an idea of kanarek13's, who also did the AMAZING cover art. Beta read by sholio.

Summary: Diverges from canon during the S5 finale. The standoff on the roof goes in Rachel's favour. Now Neal's stuck depending on her, whether he likes it or not.



Chapter One | Chapter Three
Read on AO3

( Chapter Two )

~

Title: Adverse Conditions
Characters/Pairing: Neal, Peter; Gen
Rating: G
Word count: 2500
Warnings: None
Notes: Written for anodyneer's fandom_stocking. Also counts for the "broken bones" square on my hc_bingo card.

Summary: H/c floof. Peter breaks his ankle, and Neal's there to help.

( Neal wouldn't have said he had any particularly strong feelings on snow )

~

Title: Teamwork
Characters/Pairing: Neal, Peter, Diana; Gen
Rating: G
Word count: 1800
Warnings: None
Notes: This is a fic for winterstar95, because she should have all the fic right now. *HUGS* (Also I know this was her prompt, but I can't for the life of me find it!)

Summary: Neal's current situation was one he wouldn't usually class as terrible. He was part-submerged in freezing river water, yes, but there was a ladder. He was on the ladder, even, clinging to it with a hand that was steadily going numb.

( Teamwork )

~

Title: Sleight Out Of Hand
Author: frith_in_thorns
Characters/Pairing: Neal, Diana, June, Peter; Gen
Rating: T
Word count: 9000
Warnings: None
Notes: This is my SandyAid fic for leonie_alastair, horrendously late! I really apologise, and hope you enjoy it.
I'm using this as my wild card square (smoke inhalation) in hc_bingo. Thank you helle_d and sholio for advance reading!

Summary: An FBI agent, a CI and an ex-con infiltrate a party. Only one comes out.

( Neal could practically hear Peter refrain from telling them that this wasn't a game. )

~

Okay, I THINK I'm done with tags for this episode now!

Title: With You Through The Dark
Characters/Pairing: Neal, Peter; canon Peter/El
Word count: 2800
Warnings: SPOILERS up to 5x04
Notes: For the "Arrest" square on my hc_bingo card.
Summary: Missing scene between 5x03 and 5x04. Peter visits to check on Neal.

( Right now it was a relief that he knew exactly where Neal was. He was safe there. )

~

For Caffrey-Burke Day! (Which I'm celebrating with a horrible cold. Yay.)

Title: Blackout
Characters/Pairing: Neal, Peter; Gen
Word count: 6500
Warnings: Looooads of angst.
Notes: I wrote most of this a year and a half ago for the "captivity" square on my hc_bingo card. Which, luckily, I have again this year. So. Thank you lots to sholio for the encouragement and helping me figure out the (lack of) plot!

Summary: Neal wakes up, and he's not where he expects to be.

( Neal lay very still, not opening his eyes )

- - -

Title: The Opposite of Escape Artistry
Characters/Pairing: Neal, Peter; Gen
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 3500
Warnings: None
Notes: For aqwt101, as promised aaaages ago. Also fills the "cuddling" square on my hc_bingo card. (I hadn't written completely gratuitous drugged!Neal for a while, and it's very relaxing.)

Summary: Neal maintained the ability to get out of trouble on his own for exactly as long as he needed to.

( Peter had been having a bad feeling about this stage of the operation all day )

- - -