Title: The New Guy in Town
Pairings: Peter/Elizabeth/Neal/Alex (mild, no graphic content)
Characters: Peter, Elizabeth, Neal, Alex, Satchmo, puppy, Mozzie
Rating: PG-13 for mild sexual content.
Warnings: Fluffy puppies, improbable scenario, crack, possibly OOC for everyone.
Summary: Neal gets a new puppy. Everyone thinks it's cuter than for rabidchild67 's prompt for the whitecollarhc Comfest.
Author's Notes: Silly story is silly. I hope someone enjoys it. Lightly edited and slightly expanded to fix some errors from the original posting. Written when I was in super amounts of agonizing pain, so I apologize for any weirdness. :-)
"Sulking doesn't become you," Peter commented from across the room. Elizabeth and Alex both giggled at Neal's sour expression, although El tried a little harder to be sympathetic. At the moment, all three of his lovers were on the sofa, with Satchmo at their feet, and cradled in Elizabeth's arms was the wiggling, fluffy ball of fur that was the new puppy.
Neal had brought the pup home just an hour before. He had known the dog was cute, but he'd never expected to be mostly ignored by everyone. Ok, so maybe Peter had dropped a kiss on his lips the moment he'd walked in the door, but that had just been an excuse to steal the puppy from him. And Elizabeth had given him a nice kiss, but then she'd immediately joined Peter on the sofa. And yes, when Alex arrived five minutes later, Alex did deign to give him a peck, but she'd made a beeline to the sofa after thrusting a gift bag in his hands. The bag, he'd discovered, had some puppy toys.
"I. Am. Not. Sulking." Neal stated with as much dignity as he could. Alex raised a brow at him but made no comment as she leaned across El to pet the puppy. El gave her a buss on the cheek and handed the puppy to Peter, who cooed at it in a way no grown male had business cooing at anything. As Neal felt his scowl deepen, El disengaged herself from the tangle of limbs to get up and join him by the dining room table. Alex scooted closer to Peter and he put his arm around her so she could more easily reach the Havanese puppy.
Elizabeth slipped her arms around Neal's waist and rested her head against his shoulder. "You aren't really jealous of the puppy, are you?" she asked. Her tone was light and teasing, but Neal could see that she was truly concerned, and it made him feel like a complete ass.
"No. I'm not really jealous of the dog," he said. Just then, there was a light tapping at the door. Peter handed the pup to Alex and got up to answer the door. Satchmo hopped up onto the sofa and began snuffling the puppy. "He is soooo cute," Alex signed as the puppy snuggled against her, his little eyes drooping with sleepiness.
Neal determinedly ignored just how sweet it was to see Alex all smiles, so open and delighted with the puppy. And he especially ignored how cute the puppy looked, all limp and sleepy, and his little yawn that was NOT CUTE at all...
"Mozzie," Peter greeted. He sounded amused. "Do you need some help?"
Neal brightened considerably. Mozzie barely tolerated dogs. At last, there would be a voice of reason in the house. Neal batted away the thought that even with puppy insanity, Mozzie was still the least likely choice as a voice of reason. He was just glad he'd have an ally against the tidal wave of puppy cuteness.
"No thanks, Suit. I don't need you to contaminate my equipment," Mozzie said. There was no rancor in his voice, however, and although Neal couldn't see their faces, he was certain the two men were grinning at each other. "Oh, but you can take this."
"Oof, what is in this?" Peter demanded. He let Moz into the house. Mozzie was weighted down with several briefcases of no doubt ridiculous and expensive equipment. Peter was carrying a duffle bag that appeared to be stuffed full of things.
"Just some supplies for the dogs. Toys and bones and homeopathic remedies and fountain with some filters, since the government controlled water can't possibly be healthy for them...and maybe a few other things" Mozzie said. Voice of reason my ass,Neal thought sourly, feeling distinctly put-out that Mozzie, who hadn't even seen the pup, was going overboard for it.
"Hey Neal," Mozzie greeted. He looked closely at his friend, then at everyone else in the room. "What did you do to Neal? He looks upset." he asked.
"Sulking," Alex and Peter spoke at the same time. Elizabeth grinned and waved a hand to hush them.
"Neal's just having some trouble adjusting," she said. "But we'll make it work."
Mozzie snickered and left his briefcases on the floor. "Are you going to check the dog for bugs?" Peter asked. Mozzie gave a vague wave of his hand.
"Among other things," he said cheerfully. His gaze fell on the puppy, and Neal groaned inwardly as he could literally see Mozzie's eyes fill with stars and hearts and other ridiculous things. "Ooooh, he is a little cutie, isn't he?" Moz didn't even bother saying hi to Neal, or giving him a pat or ANYTHING. Instead, he was beside Alex, patting the soft head of the pup. He didn't even seem grossed out to be touching the fur of an animal. Neal sighed.
Peter wrapped him up in a hug and dropped a kiss on his forehead. "Time to cowboy up, Caffrey. You can spend all afternoon sulking, or you can come over, play with the pup, and later, we can all go upstairs and spend some quality time together," Peter whispered in his ear.
"Even Mozzie?" Neal shot back, just because he didn't want to give in so easily.
"Only if it would make you happy," Peter murmured. He nipped at Neal's ear lightly. Elizabeth seated herself beside Alex and the two women leaned in closer together, their intent gazes on Neal's face. With all the attention focused on him now, Neal felt a little weak-kneed. Why had he been jealous of the puppy in the first place, when he had this anytime he wanted?
"That's what I thought," Peter said with satisfaction, and he gently drew Neal back into the circle of warmth and love that their little group made.
The puppy opened his eyes and focused his gaze on Neal. "Ok, ok," Neal sighed. "You can stay."
Later, after Mozzie left, and the puppy and Satchmo were asleep downstairs, Neal lay content, wrapped in the arms of Peter, with Alex spooned up against him. He was drowsy, and happy, and the embarrassment of being jealous of the puppy was finally wearing off. He couldn't believe how silly he'd been.
"So you're happy with the pup now?" Elizabeth asked from over beside Peter. Neal sighed and nodded against Alex's shoulder. She gave his hand a light kiss and he smiled.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about before. I don't know what came over me," Neal said. "I guess that was pretty stupid."
"Only a little," Peter said. He turned slightly to caress Neal's hair from his face. "We won't stop loving you, you know. Not even for a cute bundle of fur like Maximus."
"Good. I mean, I know that. Obviously." Neal said. He snuggled a little more against Peter. Comfortable silence fell over them as they all drifted towards sleep, sheltered against each other.
"Well, I'm over all my jealousy issues now." Neal assured them after a few minutes. Peter may have made a sound that was similar to a scoff, and El may have lightly smacked him, but Neal ignored that. He was totally cool now with everyone loving the puppy. He really was.
More silence fell over them, and then Alex drowsily murmured, "That's great, Neal. Because I was thinking we should get a kitten..."