The Starry Night - prologue
//back to masterpost//
//prologue//
He doesn't know how they got here, doesn't remember how he ended up in the passenger's seat of his own car with Neal sitting next to him on the wheel, looking positively gleeful and relaxed, like it is Christmas and fourth of July combined that he is able to drive and make fun of Peter slouched in his seat, probably a little ... extra happy and talkative from the pain meds, his broken and bandaged arm carefully rested on his knee.
What is even more unsettling, is that he doesn't remember how they got into this whole conversation, or - to get to the point - how Peter ended up happily spilling his guts and his innermost secret to the former (and he uses the term very loosely in his head) criminal driving his car back to his house.
"So you did experiment in college!" Neal shouts out like it's the most hilarious thing in the world and he's grinning all over his face and Peter kind of hates him just a little.
"No, I did not," Peter makes crystal-clear, meaning he's slurring the words and grinning like a loon. Damn pain meds.
"I just said I wondered, alright? Like probably every guy does at some point in his life."
"You still do?" Neal asks, his eyes now firmly on the road so Peter can't read his face.
"Wonder?" Peter clarifies, and then, because he is fucking high on pain meds, that must be it, he answers, "Yeah," and with a dreamy sigh too.
Neal chuckles next to him, throws him a weird look. A mix of amusement and curiosity and - and that Peter hates the most - pity. "And you never did anything about it?" Neal keeps digging, keeps Peter talking and tomorrow, when his mind is clear, Peter will tell Neal exactly how he thinks about making your friends talk about his secrets when he's most vulnerable.
"You know I ... I have Elizabeth. And she's this beautiful, perfect ... woman. Who I really, really love." Peter grins, Peter knows he grins like a crazy person but when Neal's eyes catch his, he thinks Neal understands him anyhow. He has met his wife after all. "And it's ...," he shrugs," too late now. Happens to the best of us."
He wants to say more, he's pretty sure that there are praises of his gorgeous wife right at the tip of his tongue, but fortunately for Neal and Peter's own sense of self-respect, he's out like a light at the next turn.
//next//