Fic: Unmasked (White Collar, PG, 1700 words)

[florastuart]

Title: Unmasked
Author: Flora
Rating: PG
Genre and/or Pairing: Gen
Characters: Neal
Spoilers: Through Season 4
Warnings: None
Word Count: 1700 words
Summary: The stranger looks like he could hold his own in a bar fight, but he’s no one Neal wants to trust at his back.
A/N: Set pre-series, with spoilers through season 4. Originally written for a

Comments

[hurinhouse]

omg. love love love this. so many things to love. i don't know why it took me so long to realize it was keller. brilliant. but even more than that, neal taking risk after risk, subconsciously hoping for someone to come after him, is so fitting and sad. this is one of the more realistic fics on this part of his life that i've seen. surely he's wishing his disappearance will cause his mother to suddenly remember he exists and come to his rescue, or his hero father. the comment about his name... i've always wondered why he'd use his mother's maiden name if he was trying to be anonymous. i thought maybe since he used aliases that he felt it was safe, but this idea you've introduced makes more sense for a bitter young man. well done - thanks.

[florastuart]

Oh, thank you so much! There's so much we don't know about Neal's early life - I think there's about seven years or so between when he leaves home and when he meets Mozzie and Kate, and the only partner from that time he ever talks about is Keller. I've always felt like that must have been a really dark time in his life. I'm glad you liked this!

[iamhere23]

Wow! I confess I didn't even think about Keller at all, but it fits. This is exactly how I think the story would have been. Exactly how I think Neal would act and I can feel his need, just for someone to give a damn about him and take him home, to a home he probably doesn't even have! After everything he's done, everything he's gone through since, I'm just so glad someone did find him. Peter always finds him.

[florastuart]

Thank you so much! Poor Neal is in a bad place, here - he's just lost everything that meant anything to him as a child, but he hasn't yet found Mozzie or Kate or Peter or any of the people who eventually become his family. I'm so glad you liked it!

[neontiger55]

Oh, this is incredible. So atmospheric and beautifully written. There are so many gorgeous turns of phrase here, I'd have to quote the whole thing back at you. I love this slightly rougher version of Neal you give us too :)

And he’s getting closer to DC with every ride he hitches, every bus he boards, every mile of highway he walks. Every bar he enters, every time he’s carded, every time he doesn’t pay cash it’s a gauntlet thrown down, a raw angry dare flung to the sky, a fist raised on a hilltop in a storm to dare the lightning. Come and find me.

I love that you turn the concept of Neal's name change on its head here too, the suggestion that he wasn't trying to disappear so much as be noticed.

[florastuart]

Ooooh, I'm so glad you like it! Thank you! :)

I think Neal would have had a lot more rough edges at this time in his life - the Neal we know defines himself so much around the people he loves, and right now he's completely alone. And the name change has always fascinated me - he finds out his whole family has been in hiding from people who want to kill them, and his response to this is to abandon the false identity he's been hiding under and go back to using a name that the people who want to kill them will recognize, if they're still looking. Which seems horribly dangerous, and says a lot about his state of mind at that time. *pets Neal*

[treonb]

This is excellent, and I really didn't see the ending coming! I really liked the part about Neal wanting to be found.

[florastuart]

Thank you so much! I always felt like if he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't have used that name ... although who he wants to be found by, and why, is something I don't think he's really sure about at this point. I'm so glad you liked it!

[daria234]

ooh this is terrific

[florastuart]

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it! :)