Disclaimer: White Collar and its characters do not belong to me. This story does.
A/N: Ok, so, I'm going through a little Near Dark (1987 vampire/western) obsession right now and it's all my friend's fault. My favorite character from the movie is Severen, and one of his quotes is "We keep odd hours." It inspired this. Enjoy :)
"Checkmate," Mozzie stated triumphantly, folding his arms over his chest. Neal shook his head, fingering a pawn he'd taken early on in the game. He laughed at Mozzie's victorious pride and leaned back against the wall.
"Wow, Moz," he said. "You got me."
"Yes!" Mozzie cheered, banging a fist on the floor, the vibration scattering the chess pieces across the apartment. Mozzie glanced sheepishly at his friend, who couldn't help but laugh. Neal waved a hand towards the other man.
"We'll clean it up later," he said. "Now, we get to work."
"Right," Mozzie replied, suddenly serious. He reached behind himself, pulling out a stack of research. Neal glanced over it, leafing through some of the papers briefly before Mozzie slapped his hand away.
"Ow."
"Respect the research," Mozzie stated simply. It took all of Neal's will-power not to roll his eyes or snap back with some witty quip. Mozzie lifted the top sheet off the stack, reading it over before relaying its content to his younger companion. "The box is currently on display at a low-key museum in Manhattan."
"Low-key?" Neal asked, an eyebrow raised. Mozzie held up a hand to silence him, still staring over his glasses at the paper in his hand.
"Low-key, but with good security," Mozzie continued. Neal nodded and motioned for him to go on. "They're not going to let anything happen to this thing."
"We'll see," Neal said, reaching out his hand as Mozzie passed the paper to him. He quickly scanned the content as his friend took a second sheet off of research pile. His face contorted in confusion and he removed his glasses, squinting his eyes and bringing the page closer to his face. After a moment he let out his breath and nodded, replacing his glasses as he passed the paper to Neal. It was a photograph of the music box, photocopied from a library book. The only text that had managed to sneak onto the page was Catharine the Great in a small, italic font at the bottom. Mozzie had drawn an arrow to one of the pieces of the box- a cherub – and scribbled three question marks beside it.
"There are some rumors that there's a secret compartment built into the lid of box. There are no accounts on if anything is actually inside it, or what it would have been used to keep, but it could serve a purpose if we actually get this thing." He shoved a handful of papers towards Neal. Neal rifled through them, finding that they were all the same picture of the music box, each one with arrows and question marks directed to different parts of the box.
"So what's the plan?" Neal asked after a long pause used to examine the photos.
"Woah, woah, woah, slow down there, pal," Mozzie said, waving his hands at Neal. "Alex hasn't even seen this yet."
"I thought you-"
"I didn't."
"But-"
"She canceled."
"You-"
"Ok, I canceled."
"Moz-"
"All right, all right! I forgot."
"Mozzie, y-"
"It was a long day. I found out about that little secret chamber that makes this box even more special than it already was. I dove into researching it and before you know it…Anyway, I called her and I'm meeting her tomorrow."
Neal stared at Mozzie, completely dumbfounded. He shook his head to clear it and set the small pile of pictures down on the floor beside him.
"Okay, so after you talk to Alex-"
"We'll make up a plan."
"And then-"
"We'll get the box and have shiny gold stars pinned next to our names on the notorious con-men- or, in Alex's case, con-woman- board and the feds will want our heads on silver platters."
Neal nodded his head, but refused to say anything as he began to gather up the chess pieces Mozzie had sent flying just minutes ago.
"What?" Mozzie said. "Something wrong?"
"No," Neal replied. "I just wasn't going to say anything be-"
"Because you thought I'd interrupt you."
"Ye-"
"Like I just did."
"Mozzie."
"Sorry." Mozzie reached across the game board, gathering up the pictures he'd let Neal see. He settled them back on his stack. He neatly organized all the pages while Neal finished cleaning up their game. He started to pack the board and pieces back into the box when they heard the squeak of door hinges followed by light footsteps. Both men froze as she came into the room, fiddling with the sleeves of her nightgown as she walked.
"I thought I heard someone," Kate said, her voice heavy with sleep.
"We woke you," Neal said apologetically.
"I was only half asleep anyway," she said, waving him off. She combed her fingers through her hair as her eyes scanned the scene before her. She looked passed them to small digital clock she kept on the end table, whose LED screen was flashing 3:45 AM. A yawn parted her strawberry lips, and when it passed she just shook her head. "God, you're up late."
Neal and Mozzie glanced at other, smiles dancing over their features.
"We know," Mozzie said.
Neal grinned up Kate and added, "We keep odd hours."