A/N: Hey peeps, here is just a random drabble on Neal and Dom actually having a serious conversation. Hope you like it!
"Dom, you can't do this. Not yet." Neal's eyes were large and pleading in his pale face. The light filtering through tent cast an eerie shadow over the two cousins.
"Why not, Meathead? I'm really serious about this—about her."
"Dom, I know you're serious, but, just, don't. Not now." He raked his fingers through his overlong hair. Why did protecting your friends have to be so hard? The only reason why he bothered was because Kel was his best friend, and she would be the first person to say that she didn't need protection when she really did.
"Neal, I don't need your permission. I don't know why you think you can do this."
Neal grabbed his cousin's shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Because I'm her friend! I don't want to see her get hurt!"
Dom looked as if he had been slapped. "And I don't? Neal, whatever you may think, I'm her friend too!"
Neal's tone was soft, and a hair too slow and patient. Dom bristled at his patronizing tone. "You don't know her like I do. And you've broken more hearts than you know." He sighed, not knowing how to continue. "Dom, it's too soon, okay? You've only known her a while, and with Cleon…"
"Neal. I thought that you of all people would see this. I have to do it. I'm really serious about Kel! I think that you're just trying to stop me because you're in love with her yourself!" Dom's anger and nerves had combined to put him close to hysteria. He clenched his hands in a fist. Of all the times Meathead had to interfere—
Neal's eyes flashed with anger for a moment, but he blinked, and Dom was startled to see that the look on his cousin's face was one of true sadness and remorse, not the usual Player drama.
Neal couldn't bear to look his cousin in the eyes. Instead, he stared at his boots, his eyes tracing every grain in the leather. "No, Dom. Not anymore." His voice sounded far-off, the voice of a much older and more world-weary man. "I gave that up years ago, in favor of friendship. She needed a friend more, not a lover whom she could too easily lose." He sighed.
Dom swallowed. He had never before heard Neal so serious. The sincerity in his face was what finally convinced him. He paused a moment. "I'll wait, Neal. I--I understand now." He stood up slowly, stooping slightly in the tent as he grabbed the flap. "And--" he said as he stepped back out into the sunshine, away from the gloom and the seriousness of the conversation. "I'm sorry if I hurt you because of this. I never meant to. I just want you to know, that I'll never hurt her. And I mean that more than anything I have ever said." The sincerity of his voice matched his cousin's. Neal nodded, unable to speak, and watched him leave. Any glib words he would have spoken were repressed by the shadows around him- those cast by the tent, and those radiating from his own heart.
The young healer looked down at his hands. "I just hope I made the right decision. But I had to choose…"