White Collar

Flat Tire

BeautifulAlice

Summary: While on a trip to their next case which is in a small town outside of Neal's radius, the van gets a flat tire, and Peter learns that Neal doesn't know a thing about changing tires, let alone fixing a car.

A sudden loud pop sounded, and the sound of a tire flopping over and over again came quickly after that.

Peter cursed, figuring that it was just their luck that while traveling to their next case, they'd wind up getting a flat tire in the process.

"Damn it," Peter muttered another curse, as he pulled the van over.

"Flat tire?" Neal guessed, and Petter nodded as he turned off the van and the two got out. Neal walked around to Peter's side, and saw it was the back left tire that had been completely blown out. Neal frowned. "Are we going to be able to get help this far out from the city?" Neal asked, concerned, and Peter raised an eyebrow.

"Why? I can just as easily change the tire myself." Peter informed him, rolling up his sleeves to do just that. Neal blinked.

"You know how to change a flat tire?" He asked, surprise on his face.

"Yup. Required knowledge by all agents, in case of situations like these." Peter said, popping open the back of the van, and dragging out their one spare tire that Diana had insisted on putting in there. He'd have to buy her something nice for that later. Or maybe give her a few spare days off…

"When did you learn?" Neal asked, curiosity on his face. As soon as he asked the question, Peter realized why Neal was so curious-it was because Neal likely didn't know how to change a tire.

"My dad taught me as a teen. Do you know how to change a flat tire, Neal?" Peter asked, staring at him while he'd rolled the tire carefully out of the van. It bounced when it hit the ground, but remained where Peter basically wanted it as he held onto it.

Neal shook his head, curiosity written on his face.

"Well, come on, then. It's about time you learned," Peter said, putting him in front of the tire. "First," He began, setting the new tire against the van. "You get the old tire off. Incidentally, how come you never learned to change a tire? You know how to drive, right?" Peter asked, and Neal rolled his eyes as he began doing as Peter instructed.

"Yes, Peter, I know how to drive." Neal sounded vaguely amused as he answered, and then distracted as he began trying to loosen the bolts of the flat tire. "I just…" He grunted as he started removing the bolts that held down the now flat tire, just as Peter instructed him. "I never had anyone to show me how to change a tire, or check the oil, or even wash the car. I've been on the run, remember? It's not like I had the time." He reminded him, putting a bolt into Peter's outstretched hand.

"Hmm…" Peter wondered what else Neal was never shown of how to do. Gardening, maybe. Cooking? Cleaning? He would need to write up a list with El's help, and then the two of them would have to start teaching Neal more about how to do things.

After all, Peter was pretty positive there would be a day when Neal wasn't running around hiding from the law.

And Peter had always wanted a son to teach things like this to him anyway, and Neal…

Well, Neal was a lot like a son to him, most days.

When he wasn't busy being an obnoxious little brat, as he was doing so now, teasing Peter about how El must've married him because of how he'd looked in a handyman outfit. Peter returned fire just as well, rubbing grease on Neal's nice pants and making Neal complain about it while twisting the wrench in trying to get loose a particularly stubborn bolt.

But then things couldn't be perfect, and for some reason, Peter found himself oddly grateful that the tire had gone flat.

It gave him a chance to spend more time with Neal.

The End

Notes: Also posted on AO3 underneath i_write_a_lot