WC: Better Men

[bella_harvest]

White Collar -- Fanfiction

Disclaimer:
All recognizable characters are property of Jeff
Eastin and USA Network. 
No copyright infringement intended.

Title:  Better Men

• Rating: PG-13
• Category:  Episode Tag (S3 mid-season finale), Drama, Friendship, Alternate canon (with 99.999% certainty)
• Spoilers: Countdown, As You Were + various other references

Author's

Comments

[anonymous]

Oh please don't leave it there and please find a way to get both Neal and El away from Keller.

I love you stuff and look foward to reading more soon.

Thank you
Laura

Better Men

[anonymous]

Really really good story so sad at the end. I hope you do add chapters to it. I am new to fan fiction and have read all your White Collar stories and really enjoyed them....Thanks for putting in the time you do.

Re: Better Men

[bella_harvest]

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. It's always great to get feedback. I'm glad you liked this and the other stories. I've been working on a couple more chapters for this but it's slow progress at the moment. Hopefully I'll hit a more creative streak soon!

[batmanswiss]

While I would love to join in the demands for more, and I believe you would do this piece great justice if you were to continue on, I must say that this works very well on its own. It seems right to leave it where it is.

The interaction between Neal and Peter is spot on. Peter can see through Neal's deception, even when Neal can't see it himself. Throughout the first half of season 3 I always believed that Neal's greatest con was run on himself.

[bella_harvest]

Thank you for sharing your opinion. I *do* like this as a one-shot. While I'd love to keep spinning this into a run-of-the-mill rescue mission that pushes all the appropriate h/c buttons, I'm somewhat reluctant to make the necessary switch in the narrative. I'll have to think about it some more ...

I agree with your thoughts on the current season, too. Neal was brilliant in his cover-up of (Mozzie's) theft of the treasure, but to me it often seemed like he was on "con autopilot". Whenever he stopped and actually thought about what his deception was doing to Peter (and himself) it just didn't quite sit right with him anymore. Of course, then he went on to do the logical thing: take the deception a little further until there's no way out!

torn

[dashsdashes]

This was great and has left me very torn ... I want to beg for more just because I always love your writing, have a vacation coming up at the end of October and would selfishly love to have something new to read but at the same thing - think it's very strong as a standalone piece. You did a great job capturing both of their problems and how torn they are over this issue of trust. Maybe, as much as we hate to admit it, sometimes there really isn't a way to make it all better for everyone and Neal's actions really do get him into a situation that's unwinable.

Re: torn

[bella_harvest]

Yeah, I hear you. It's difficult to imagine how Peter and Neal can move forward as friends or partners if the full extent of Neal's deception ever comes to light. I truly feel for Peter. The only credit Neal gets in my book is that he wasn't the one who initially stole the U-boat treasure. I'm curious if the show runners will find a resolution that's in any way believable, especially since there was practically no fallout after the Fowler fiasco.

Thanks for weighing in and I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

[tj_teejay]

Good lord, it will be hard for me to put into words just how much love I have for this. I literally have tears streaking down my cheeks, because that ending just kills me. And strangely enough, I want to see it on the show (agree, though, that there's a 99.999% chance that won't happen).

I am also in awe of your eloquence and play with words. It brings all of this together and packs the oppressive, angsty atmosphere into a tight ball that's ready to explode. This is all the things that Neal and Peter need to address, but never would have if tragedy hadn't struck. I especially loved the idea of Neal confessing to have broken into Peter's home, because somehow I always saw it as Peter finding out about it by checking Neal's tracker. You did that masterfully.

And please, please, please write more. What do I need to do to make that happen?

[bella_harvest]

Thank you for all the compliments. I'm truly flattered. Maybe it's just me, but I sometimes think that Neal really wants to let his guard down with Peter. He drops off-handed remarks here and there (about his upbringing, about not having "hit bottom"), but as soon as Peter prods a little further, he backs off and the self-protective walls are back up. Neal is so wrapped up in running the con that his life has become that by the end of it no one will know who he truly is as a person--least of all himself. Perhaps that is one of his existential fears. And perhaps deep down there's a part of Neal that realizes that Peter is someone to whom he could "confess", in more than a criminal sense, because Peter would never use his weaknesses against him

[tj_teejay]

Oh yeah, Neal definitely wants to drop his guard when he's with Peter, or maybe create a situation where he's forced to. It's the very essence of their friendship, and the path that friendship has taken. Still, Neal has years of fending for himself without ever completely trusting anyone under his belt, and I think it's not easy for him to let that go. He's still completing that learning curve. I think we all secretly want Neal to fully trust Peter and vice versa, but it's like Tim DeKay keeps saying: The moment that there is complete trust between them, the show is over. That said, I think Neal has let his guard down with Peter more than he ever has with anyone, even if the carefully constructed walls are still up most of the time

[bella_harvest]

I absolutely agree with you (and TDK). As soon as the inherent distrust and tension in Peter and Neal's relationship is gone, the show loses all its appeal (beyond the purely visual appeal, let's be honest). That was probably the main reason I disliked much of S2.5. They need to fight for and earn every iota of trust they built between them. It feels wrong when the writers just give it to them.

That aside, the wheels in my head have geared up and I'm committed to continue the story. After all, no one is force to read it if they prefer the first chapter as a one-shot. The second chapter and much of a third is written and I know what the fourth and final chapter will look like. The revisions typically take a while (until I'm sick and tired of looking at it and my beta throws up her hands in defeat) but hopefully I'll have the next installment up in the near future.

Thanks for your input. And realistic story plots are overrated!
B