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Part 22 of White Collar/DC Fics
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Published:
2021-05-16
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1,109
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1/1
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go lucky, change the world grayson

Summary:

"Well, hey there partner! Funny seeing you here!”

Neal freezes. “Oh no.”

Amy grins widely. “Who woulda guessed goodie two shoes Grayson woulda made it to the feds. Everyone thought you’d be eaten by the sharks in BHPD with your go lucky, change the world doe eyes. Well look at ya now! Big leagues, big bucks.” She snorts. “Well, bigger bucks than BHPD, that’s for sure.”

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

The New York FBI division is hosting a police outreach event for the police departments of the upper east coast. 

Something about interagency collaboration and cordialness. 

Neal didn’t really pay attention to the whole spiel.

Neal is standing behind Peter by the White Collar booth — yes, booth, like it’s a middle school science fair or a Klance art stand at Comic Con — being bored out of his mind. 

“We don’t even have any cool pins or stickers,” Neal murmurs to Peter.

“Neal,” Peter says warningly.

“I’m just saying. I think Cybercrimes had stickers. That’s kinda cool.” 

“Neal.”

“But I mean, what would it even be? Can’t exactly have a logo for tax fraud.” Neal hums. “Or you could. I bet that exists somewhere.” And then he starts thinking about Comic Con again. “Do you think there’s fanfic shipping different branches of the FBI?”

Peter’s brows furrow. “Like, the people?”

“No, like anthropomorphic representations of the branches themselves. You know, like how people ship Denny’s and LongHorn Steakhouse.”

“I do not know.”

Neal disregards his response. “Who do you think White Collar would be shipped with?”

“Violent crimes, for sure,” Jones pipes in. “It’s the opposites attract, enemies to lovers schtick.”

Neal gestures wildly at Jones. “See! Jones gets me.”

Peter buries his face in his hands.

“Nah, White Collar and Organized Crime,” Diana puts her two cents in, much to her Boss’s dismay. “Gotta love the ‘rivals to lovers’ trope.”

“I don’t get paid nearly enough for this,” Peter groans.

Diana nudges Peter. “Incoming.”

Neal is leaning against the wall, his sight blocked by the team getting to the front of the booth to greet the approaching visitors.

“Neal,” Peter hisses.

Neal sighs and curls around to stand beside Peter.

“Well, hey there partner! Funny seeing you here!”

Neal freezes. “Oh no.”

He hadn’t prepared for this. When he took this undercover gig, he never thought he’d run into anyone from Gotham or Bludhaven. Natives don’t usually upgrade to the big apple.

But standing there is Amy Rohrbach, the now Chief of the Bludhaven Police Department.

Amy grins widely. “Who woulda guessed goodie two shoes Grayson woulda made it to the feds. Everyone thought you’d be eaten by the sharks in BHPD with your go lucky, change the world doe eyes. Well look at ya now! Big leagues, big bucks.” She snorts. “Well, bigger bucks than BHPD, that’s for sure.” She slugs him in the arm fondly. “No warm welcome?”

Neal stares, slightly speechless, and rubs the spot with a grin. “It’s great to see you too, Amy.”

“Don’t tell me you turned into a pencil pusher,” she teases.

“I do a lot of mortgage fraud these days,” Neal admits.

Amy gasps dramatically, a hand clutching at her chest. “I can’t imagine you trapped at a desk. You loved the field too much for that.” She laughs and turns to Peter. “I swear, every time we had to do our reports, this kid filled them out lightspeed just to get them over with.”

“I filled them out fast because I’m efficient,” Neal corrects. He then stills when he remembers who he’s with.

“We miss you back at the precinct,” Amy says. “Haven’t been the same without your radiant sunshine attitude.”

“Had to overcompensate to make up for the interesting bunch,” Neal says.

“Yeah, well, I’m still weedin’ out the corrupt cops, but they’re like ants. You get rid of one and two more show up.”

“I think you’re thinking about hydra heads.”

Amy laughs. “At least the hydra is a beast worth a fight. Ants are just a pain in my ass.” She grins. “Speaking of which, I’ve missed my favorite pain in the ass. How have you been, kid?”

“Doin’ really great,” Neal replies with a soft smile. “Using my go lucky, change the world charm to make a difference somehow.”

“Good for you,” Amy says. “Have you been back to see your family? I saw on the news that your pops just threw his yearly charity gala.”

Neal’s eyes dart at Peter who is gaping at the exchange.

“Haven’t been able to get back home in a while.”

“You’re just avoiding being in another monkey suit,” Amy teases. “But really, I hope you’re keepin’ in touch with your siblings. They’re good kids.”

“You talked to them recently?” Neal questions, surprised.

“No,” Amy says, “but with the way you always talked about them, there’s no way they ain't good kids.”

Neal laughs. “Good is not the word I would use to describe them.”

Amy shakes her head. She notices their company that stares at them with stupefaction. “Gosh, where are my manners? Amy Rohrbach. I worked with this one at Bludhaven PD.”

Peter turns slowly to face Neal. “Bludhaven PD, huh?”

Dick looks away, face warm. “Uh, yeah.”

“Lots of corrupt cops in Bludhaven. You one of ‘em?” Jones asks.

“Are you kidding me?” Amy asks. “Grayson might’ve been one of the only straight and narrow cops in the whole precinct.”

“Grayson?” Peter repeats.

Neal closes his eyes and takes a long breath.

“Well, look, kid, it’s been great catching up, but I think I gotta get back to the whole ‘actually attending the event’ thing.” Amy chuckles again. “Stay outta trouble and for God’s sake, call and catch up once in a while!”

“I’ll do my best,” Neal says.

“You better!”

And with that, Amy heads to the next booth.

Neal can feel the eyes boring into his soul as his coworkers stare at him in complete shock.

“You were a cop?” Jones finally asks.

“Uh, yeah,” Neal says. 

“How did you go from being ‘the most straight and narrow cop in the precinct’ to an art thief and forger?” 

“Alleged thief and forgery,” Neal corrects. “You only caught me on the bond forgery.”

Peter narrows his eyes. “Neal.”

“Okay, okay.” He holds up his hands in surrender. “Let’s just say that there were some… extenuating circumstances that led to my life of crime.”

“Extenuating circumstances?” Peter repeats with disbelief. 

Neal nods. “Extenuating circumstances.”

“We’re not gonna get any answers from you, are we?”

Neal grins. “Nope!”

Peter sighs. “Why did I think otherwise?”

“You should really know better by now.”

Peter takes a long breath. He rubs a hand over his face and turns to Neal. “Just one thing.”

Neal gives him finger guns. “Shoot.”

“Grayson, is it your first or last name?”

Neal raises an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Peter sighs again. “Yeah, I should’ve expected that.”

Neal laughs and nudges Peter in the shoulder. Neal sighs happily.

“You know, Bludhaven and Gotham PD would also have some good enemies to lovers slowburn.”

Notes:

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