Epilogue
After taking a late morning to eat a leisurely breakfast, Peter enjoyed the drive into work. He and Neal were talking, not like they used to talk, about everything, but talking all the same which was a good start in the right direction.
Smiling as he parked, Peter paused to glance at Neal. "I know things are only just starting to work between us, but I'm glad to be fixing it. You're my best friend, and I've missed this."
Looking back, Neal smiled. "Me too."
Climbing out of the car, they enjoyed their comradery before meeting behind the car.
Throwing his arm across Neal's shoulder, Peter's smile faltered as he felt Neal flinch. Dropping his arm and clearing his throat, he tried to pick up the conversation again like nothing had happened.
He paused when Neal grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. "Peter…"
Once he was fully turned around, Neal started talking to him. "Remember, I don't blame you, it's just a reaction to months of psychological torture. Please, don't stop reaching out just because I flinch or twitch. I do miss our friendship, Peter."
Pulling Neal into another hug, Peter patted his back. "I'll keep reaching out then."
After a moment, they resumed their walk into the office.
Once they reached the White Collar unit, Peter patted Neal on the back when he left him at his desk. The younger agent had a pile of paperwork waiting and a whole team of people who wanted to talk to him. There were other friendships that needed repair.
Curling up in his office, Peter went to work on his own pile of reports and cases. As he worked, he resumed the game of glancing down to watch Neal throughout the day.
It was different this time though.
When Neal caught him watching, he'd make a goofy face to make him smile. At first, Peter was surprised cocking his head question. But once Neal had tapped smile in Morse Code on his desk, Peter started making faces back. Sure, his weren't as comedic, but it was his effort that counted. Besides, Neal reacted in some way each time by either directing how to make the face better, pretending to be horrified, or laughing at how ridiculous his efforts looked.
Soon enough the rest of the team caught on and it became a game to make faces at anyone who met your glance.
The comedy act seemed to lighten the mood sufficiently enough for even the most nervous members of the team to approach Neal on friendly terms.
When it was nearly lunch, someone made a ridiculous face so unexpected it caused an uproar of laughter to erupt through the office.
Swinging his office door open, Hughes walked out onto the landing looking around like he was upset by the ruckus. Raising his voice, he reprimanded those in hearing range. "What is going on out here? This isn't the comedy club, it's the FBI. Behave like agents!"
Although no one was afraid of serious repercussions, the team did quiet down and resume a more normal working atmosphere.
From his vantage point, Peter missed what face Hughes made at Neal, but based on the goofy face Neal made back, it had to be something other than his usual taciturn expression.
Then Hughes turned back towards Peter with a smile. Meeting Peter's glance with a small wave, the man returned to his office having settled the amusements to a more moderate level.
Smiling to himself, Peter loved the feeling of things returning to normal. The office wasn't quiet, awkward, or morose. Instead, there was laughter, jokes, and teasing. Sure, Neal still flinched in response to people on the team, particularly Peter, and he still seemed to be puzzling about the punch in the conference room, but things were getting back to normal.
When lunch came around, Peter stepped back and left Neal open for lunch with Jones and Diana allowing other members of the team more one on one time to talk to their friend.
Neal had glanced up as the time drew near and looked a little sad when Peter shook his head. Holding up a finger, Peter pointed towards Diana and Jones indicating it was their turn to take a piece of his time. Nodding, Neal seemed to get the message and smiled brighter again.
Turning to greet the agents, he discussed options and they headed for the door. Stopping at the door, Neal paused to do something on his phone before turning around to face Peter.
Hearing his phone buzz, Peter checked the message to discover that Neal was offering to bring him back lunch since he was working through the break. Smiling down appreciatively, Peter accepted the offer with a text.
Checking his phone when it buzzed, Neal smiled back up at him before walking out with a wave.
Getting absorbed into an accounting heavy case, Peter let the numbers speak to him until he was startled to hear a knock on the door.
Looking up, he waved Neal in and directed him to take the seat opposite him while he cleared the piles for a space to eat.
"Here's your sandwich. I had them try something different, so see if you can guess it. Deviled Ham could use a little pizzazz if you ask me." Neal teased with a sparkle in his eyes as he opened the packaging and set a fresh cup of fancy coffee next to it.
"Thanks. You know I'm probably not going to get it by myself. I'll have to say what it tastes like and ask El, but I won't explain it right so you'll give up and tell me." Peter smiled back as he relished in the teasing.
"Okay, for that, I won't tell you what I did." Neal leaned back in the chair and grinned.
"The hard way it is, just know Elizabeth would prefer the other route." Peter pretended to grumble while taking the first bite of his sandwich. Going quite, he tried to contemplate what could be different, but since he was trying to dissect every taste, he had no idea.
Smirking mischievously, Neal watched the show for a few moments before getting up to head back to his own workload.
"Seriously, what did you do?" Peter asked hoping his curiosity would encourage Neal to take pity on him.
"No way, I told you I wasn't going to tell, Peter. And since I'm an agent, you can't threaten me with prison anymore. I think I like things better this way, more liberating without so many potential threats of repercussions…" He winked at Peter before shutting and door and lightly whistling his way back to his desk.
Sighing, Peter couldn't begrudge him the game since he was too happy to have their friendship back to the level of games and banter, but he was still curious what the man had done to his sandwich!
When the day came to an end, Peter enjoyed hearing the conversations in the office as agents told Neal goodnight and made plans for the following day. It was another sign that the team was coming back together into a unified front. Neal was no longer singled out as the criminal, he wasn't the awkward elephant in the room, and he wasn't silently flinching away from everyone. All in all, it was a good day.
Taking the stairs to leave the office on time, Peter was too eager to extend his invitation. It had been too long and was way past overdue.
Catching Neal closing down his desk, Peter stopped like he had so many times before. "Hey, do you have any plans for the evening?"
Lighting up, Neal grinned knowing what that sentence meant. "No, but I get the feeling I'm about to."
Matching the smile, Peter offered the expected invitation. "Elizabeth would like to see you so she made your favorites. I can give you a lift."
Flipping his fedora onto his head, Neal ran his fingers along the brim in a snappy fashion. "Wouldn't miss it."
Throwing his arm across Neal's shoulder, Peter didn't withdrawal at his flinch. Instead, he wrapped his hand around Neal's shoulder to squeeze him into a sideways hug.
"Have I told you about my days in college?" Neal asked as he pushed the door open.
"No, we had a speculative conversation about what you might have been like if you went to college, but you haven't told me anything of what it was actually like," Peter answered.
"Well, there are a lot of stories… ooh, I should tell you about…" Neal started telling about something exciting, as they got into the elevator.
Listening to the story about a university library and suction cupped ammunition, Peter smiled to be regaled about his best friend's real past.
Thank you, everyone, for reading, reviewing/commenting, and leaving kudos :D
Well, this story is a wrap and I hope you all enjoyed it! Next week I will begin posting the oldest story in my collection, Pinterest Prompts, which as the title indicates is a collection of prompts I picked up on Pinterest (the other site I live on besides Fanfiction ;). I have hundreds of pins for potential prompts, images that inspire possible story ideas, and things from the canon show that recap scenes and events so there will be more to this collection and other collections in the future, but like most of my collections they are something I only periodically visit and build between single story ideas. At present, there are only four chapters to this collection so I hope you enjoy :D