Title: love is where our summer was
Fandom: White Collar/Chuck
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: child abuse; implied sexual abuse
Pairings: implied OMC/Neal
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 445
Point of view: third
Prompt: White Collar/Chuck, Neal + Bryce, James Bond and James Bonds
When they were young, Noah and Brendan Lafferty's favorite thing to do was watch old James Bond VHSs. Their father had most of the films; a box full was the only thing left behind when he didn't come back one day.
As new films were made, they would sneak into the theater, and Brendan talked about one day being James Bond. Noah promised to help him, and create any documents needed.
Dad came back their senior year. He could barely stand Noah, who was president of the art club and the lead in the play. He thought Brendan was awesome though, since Brendan had mastered all the martial arts taught in their town. Brendan had passed on the basics to Noah, but Dad didn't care about that.
Brendan wasn't there the afternoon their father finally lost his temper and grabbed Noah's arm, slamming him into a wall. Wasn't there when their father told him that he was a fag, a slut, and if he spread his legs for half the town, he'd goddamned better bring home some money for it.
Mom was upstairs, sleeping. Dad had alcohol on his breath. Brendan wasn't there.
Noah didn't fight back and hated himself for it.
When Brendan got home, Noah was in their room beneath the covers of Brendan's bed.
The next morning, their father was gone again. Noah wanted to ask; their mother did. Brendan smiled at Mom and shrugged, and sat down too close to Noah after serving them breakfast.
Dad never came back that time, and a few days later, Brendan took Noah to a desolate spot on the edge of town where the dirt was freshly turned. There, Brendan asked if Noah was ready to leave, make their dreams finally come true.
A week after that, Noah and Brendan Lafferty were dead; Neal Caffrey and Bryce Larkin were born.
Bryce went to Stanford, got recruited by the CIA, and became an American James Bond. He wrote Neal letters giving out the details that wouldn't get them both killed.
Neal went to New York and immersed himself in art like he never had at home. He created identities and painted his favorites and began making a name as the go-to guy for non-violent crime. He met Moz and wrote Bryce, telling him the funnier stories.
When he learned the name the FBI had given him, Neal called Bryce and they laughed for days. They met up at one of Neal's safe-houses and had a James Bond marathon.
(Neither of them had guessed, then, how things would go. It was so much like a movie and they'd never watched movies without a happy ending.)