"Okay, just breathe, Neal. How much time do you have?" Mozzie asked, watching his friend pace back and forth in his room in June's home. Neal checked his watch for the tenth time since he got back.

"Thirty minutes. What am I gonna do, Moz?"

"Uh, you're gonna get wired, flirt with a man, and then stab him in the back." Mozzie gave him his face 'duh' expression. "Interesting how often the Suit complains about con artists lying, yet his entire career is based off lies."

"Yes, yes, the corruption of the bureaucracy. Moz, I can't flirt with a man."

"It wouldn't be the first time," Mozzie reminded him, head tipping sideways in a way that eerily reminded Neal of Peter.

"And we both know how well that ended."

"You were young, you didn't know what you were doing. But this is different. You understand people better. You understand yourself better."

"I just..." Neal fell on to the couch with a thump and buried his face in his hands. "I never wanted to think about that. Ever."

"What, did you think you could run from it forever?"

"I'm a pretty good runner," Neal waved him off.

"But Peter's better. I have to admire the suit; he has a way of making you confront your past without even trying." Neal shook his hair out and sighed, knowing that he had to make his way back to the office soon.

"What if he's there, Moz? The Viper was his place to relax. What if I bump into him and he blows my cover...and I fail Peter."

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default."

"Einstein?" Neal looked over at his friend.

"No, J.K. Rowling. Now go, before the suit comes here looking for you." Neal grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair and headed out slowly. He made his way to the office, walking a bit faster when he saw that he had ten minutes to get there, and thought about the current case.

There were many things about Neal's past that he wished to forget, but there was one thing this case refused to let him forget: Cory Lestrade.

Neal thought about Cory as he crossed the street in front of the huge office building. Cory was three years older than him, an inch shorter (last time he checked) and with the most beautiful smile Neal had ever seen on a man. Neal with eighteen when they met, alone in the world, and instantly drawn to the older man. With his dark curls and golden eyes, Cory was an unintentional heartbreaker for everyone. Well, everyone except Neal.

He and Neal began as friends, moved closer to slightly more than friends, and on a night when the two stayed up too late and drank a little too much, they became much more than just friends. Neal liked Cory a lot; he was brave, honest, and the most optimistic person he had ever known. He protected Neal when the boy had just moved to Manhattan and gave him a place to stay.

Their relationship was always on the rocks thanks to Neal. At that age he had already decided to start making new identities for himself, identities other than Neal Caffrey. Cory didn't like it, but he didn't tell Neal what to do. Problems arose when Neal's most important identity didn't fit with his lifestyle.

Neal Caffrey being his most important identity. When Neal first changed his name he wrote down a thorough list of characteristics that he wanted Neal to have. Charm, confidence, and motivation were only a few that he wrote down. He delved deeper and decided that Neal would be straight, for no other reason than that it was just easier. Neal would probably have many problems facing him, and aversion to his sexuality was not going to be one of them. He thought about this list late at night as he felt the heat of Cory's body against his back. He was diverging from his list. At the time, he had thought it was a huge problem.

In the end, it ruined everything. Neal felt that he had to stay strictly to the personality he had created, which included an intense attraction to women, but none to men. He had chosen to ignore what he knew now in favor of protecting the identity he had created. And he had pushed Cory away quickly after that.

Now, as Neal took the elevator up to his floor, he wondered how different his life would have been if he had told that little con man voice in the back of his head to shut the hell up and just be happy with Cory. Would they still be together? Would he have turned away from crime in favor of a better life?

He would never know, and that's what irked him the most. This case was already making his head hurt and it had barely begun.

"Punctual, Caffrey." Neal peaked down at his watch to see that it was exactly eleven.

"You know how much I hate to miss undercover work," Neal said with a smile. Instead of the familiar wires that he was expecting, Neal was presented with a beautiful, fake Rollex.

"By any chance do they have a bug scanner?"

"The club doesn't, but Montague might. If you make it back to his place, he might-"

"Woah, slow down there, Butch. Back to his place?"

"Yeah," Peter said casually. "You have to get his attention, Neal. Flirt with him, make him want you, which may lead to an invitation."

"As long as I don't have to sleep with him," Neal muttered.

"Well, you might need to cowboy up on this one," Peter said with a sly smile. The look on Neal's face earned him a hearty laugh.

"Alright, what's my cover?"

Peter handed him another folder and Neal flipped it open, filing the information away quickly.

"Nick Stanton, twenty-six years old, bartender and a close friend of Carlito."

"Twenty-six?" Neal raised a brow at Peter, who shrugged and patted him on the shoulder.

"You can pull it off."

"And Carlito's friend?"

"Montague trusts Carlito. He's his go-to guy. Now, all you have to do is ace your interview and show off those bartending skills I know you're hiding from me, and you'll get to meet Montague. From there..."

"The fun begins."

Diana came in to the conference room with an armful of clothes that she knew Neal would approve of: Pin-striped dress pants that hugged his bottom ever so slightly, a white button down shirt and a classy black vest and tie. Neal started to strip right there, leaving Peter wheeling around for the blinds as fast as he could and scolding Neal for public indecency. Diana laughed along with Neal at Peter's huffing until he was all dressed and ready to go. He slipped the watch on and clicked the button on the side, familiar with this handy device.

"Now, Neal, remember: If they try to scan you for bugs-"

"Click the button off, I know. Anything else?"

"Yes. You'd better make a damn good impression with Montague. The case-"

"Depends on it, I know."

"Fine." Peter stood in front of Neal, hands on hips, assessing him. "Jones, Diana and I will be right outside if anything goes wrong. Just say the word and we'll have backup there within minutes."

"Hmm...I wonder..." Neal said as the three agents and he left the building and made their way into the van.

"What?" Jones eyed him warily.

"Does your cover ever get blown because of the painfully obvious FBI van sitting right outside?"

"Surprisingly, no."

"Fascinating."

Thanks so much for your reviews for the first chapter! I'd love some for this, as well. More motivation for chapter 3! I'll get started on it right now, but really, your reviews determine how fast I post it :D