I've got to thank Sop12345d for being an outstanding beta. She's worked on a load of my work, which you guys will be seeing in the upcoming weeks.
Hope you guys enjoy this pretty random one-shot.
Peter was never a fan of a case where he couldn't wake up and have breakfast with his wife before work. This was one of those cases. The sun had barely creeped over the horizon and he was already dressed and on his way to Neal's. The other man hadn't answered his phone so he had to go and collect him in person.
He parked outside and made his way upstairs. He knocked twice on the door and when there was no answer, he unlocked it and let himself in. He couldn't hear anything so he creeped further into the room.
He was about to call for the other man when he saw him. Neal was standing outside on the terrace, paint in hand, depicting the skyline.
He stepped towards the terrace and opened the doors. This noise, Neal heard. He turned quickly and looked surprised when he found Peter standing there. "We've got a case and I couldn't get a hold of you," Peter explained as he came to stand at Neal's side.
"Can I finish this first?" Neal questions as he goes back to painting, whether Peter wants him to or not.
"You've added a rainbow," Peter points out, noticing the difference between the painting and what he actually sees.
"Yeah." Neal replies as he adds another few strokes. "It's not just a painting. I'm doing scene pieces for the children's hospital. I've promised to add a rainbow to everyone of them," he explains and Peter just looks at him.
"You're doing what?" Peter asks and Neal turns to look at him again, slightly surprised.
"You didn't know I was doing this? It was Elizabeth who asked me," Neal said as he turned back to his painting. "She contacted me a few weeks ago. She has a friend who saw one of my paintings at your place and questioned her about it. She came and asked me if I would do some New York City scenes for the hospital. I might as well paint legitimately if I'm going to paint at all. So I did two for them and then they asked me to add rainbows to them. So I do," Neal explains and Peter just continues to stare at the painting in front of him.
"Well that's really nice of you, and all, but we have a case that I'm pretty sure we're late for." Peter places a hand on Neal's shoulder.
"Okay, I'll finish it later," Neal says, getting up and taking his stuff back inside and then runs off to shower and dress really quickly. Peter stays and considers at the couple of paintings that Neal's got mostly finished. All of them are of various New York City skylines and all of them have a big soft rainbow going straight through it. The longer he stares, the more amazing the paintings look. Eventually, Neal returns and they get to the case at hand.
Two weeks later, though, Neal is surprised to find an actual formal request slip sitting at an easel. It's from Peter and he gives him a location that he wants done. It's a surprise for Elizabeth's birthday and it was where he proposed. So Neal agrees, free of charge obviously, and Peter takes him there and sits whilst Neal paints and paints.
They get it home and Peter hides until their anniversary the following week. When Elizabeth opens it, she actually tears up, not just because it's one of the most important places in New York City to her, but because Neal, who she knows did the painting, had put a huge soft rainbow straight through the painting made out of their names. She knows she'll never look at a rainbow the same way again.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Comments much appreciated. There's another piece that could be linked to this one already written and I might upload that as well, if you guys are interested.