Neal didn't believe it whenever his luck ran out on him. But whenever it did, it left him entirely. He found himself flat out on his back staring up at the street lights. They blinded him and stabbed at the already throbbing pain in his head. He wondered what had happened as he slowly curled into a ball to stop the shaking. It was so cold and the snow falling stung his skin.
There was a bump on his head as well and his lack of coat and jacket suggested he'd been mugged. He didn't remember how he had gotten there but all he wanted was to be home. He wanted Peter. Dragging himself up, he whimpered every few centimetres as the pain intensified with movement. No phone either, he groaned. And to make it complete he thought as he looked around at the empty snow-covered streets, he couldn't figure out where he was.
This close to Christmas there was nowhere open to ask for directions so he set off randomly and hoped to stumble across somewhere he knew.
---
Peter was having dinner with his in laws and it was not going well considering the news Elizabeth had just told them so he was most relieved to get the call from Jones. That was until he heard what was said.
"Caffrey's tripped his anklet." Jones told him straight off and Peter went silent. His first reaction was denial on Neal's behalf.
"What? That doesn't make any sense, can you tell me what he was doing before the alarm went off." Peter said instantly feeling the dread as always when he heard those words. Only this time, Neal hadn't seemed stressed beforehand and they hadn't been working on a case either, where he sometimes uses the anklet in his plans.
"It seems he was in one place for awhile then he started wandering around. He's in one of the roughest parts of town and... Wait, he's turned up again. What in the hell?" He heard how pissed Jones was like he thought Neal was messing around but Peter was worried. Neal wouldn't be wandering around in this weather.
"Where is he, I'll go pick him up," He asked Jones and told Elizabeth he had to go. Something wasn't right.
---
Neal was scared. Even more terrified than when a gun is pulled on him. He'd tripped up over his own feet and now he couldn't get up. He'd stopped shivering and that; he knew was the worst sign of all. He wanted Peter; he could trust Peter and he wished Peter knew how much that made him love him. He heard a door open and shouting but all he could concentrate on was the little puffs of breath that hurt his chest more and more each time he breathed.
Hands were suddenly on him and he cried out as the gentle touched hurt.
"Neal, are you okay, speak to me!" A voice said too loudly and his head throbbed. He sobbed as he tried to raise his hands to his ears. Yet it felt like he was moving two unresponsive slabs of flesh and his fingers wouldn't move. "Neal, please, you need to tell me! Are you injured?"
He saw familiar warm brown eyes above his and stared, blinking slowly. He recognised those eyes.
"Pe...ter...I'm...c..."He tried to say, but his speech came out slow and he gave up. He was safe now Peter was here; he'd started to drift off when someone started shaking him.
"I know you're cold Neal, but you have to stay awake just a little longer okay." Peter pleaded with him. Neal tried his best but his focus kept sliding from him and everything hurt so much. He kept blinking but just as he heard other voices join Peter's he slipped blissfully under.
---
Neal had been out of his sight for nearly an hour now. He had no idea what they were doing to him but he hoped they were easily able to save him. Peter had never seen Neal look bad before, even when he was in prison, he had looked like he was only wearing orange for some crazy prison special of America's next top model.
Yet when he had found him collapsed in the street, he had been so pale he had looked monochrome. His black hair and lashes stark contrast with his white skin. Until he opened his eyes and they looked closer to cobalt rather than the lightest blue they really were.
Peter jumped up as a nurse came up to him. "Any news," he asked immediately.
"Your friend is going to be fine; he was suffering from mild hypothermia as well as a concussion from being struck on the back of his head.
He is recovering quickly and could probably leave in a couple of hours but we would prefer he stay overnight for observation.
"Can I see him?" Peter asked and gave her a relieved smile when she nodded.
---
Neal was cold. He had known it wouldn't go away immediately but he hadn't thought even in his worse case scenarios that it would be this persistent. He'd tried warding it off with blankets and hot water bottles and that liquid thing they pumped into his blood had warmed him slightly but in truth he was still so cold it hurt.
He was getting dressed in some scrubs he'd managed to steal when Peter came in. All he could think about was the warmth of his flat in June's house and desperately wanted to get there. Peter looked at him as though he was trying to escape now the staff had been forced to cut his anklet to get his soggy half frozen clothes off.
"C...can you take me... home, please?" His plan banked on Peter because there was no way he was going to try walking, shivering as he already was.
"They want you to stay overnight, Neal." Peter told him firmly but despite that he was already placing his coat around Neal's shoulders. It wasn't often Neal said please and he was having a hard time stopping himself from doing what Neal asked immediately.
"It'll be warmer at June's," Neal told him trying to give him a charming smile that was ruined by the chattering of his teeth and patted his chest. Peter couldn't help but smile, he knew Caffrey was going to be alright if he was already trying to be charming but Neal's hand radiated cold through his jacket and shirt.
"Alright, let me just go sign the forms and we can go as soon as you're released."He compromised. Neal smiled weakly and tried to bury himself once again under blankets and Peter's coat, to show he was alright with that plan.
---
"So what happened?" Peter asked when they got in the car. He'd been dying to ask since he was sure Neal was okay but had forced himself to wait. He turned the heating on full blast, even though it was too hot for him and he felt like he was being cooked alive.
"I don't really know. Did I walk home?" Neal asked confused. He pulled his feet up so he could curl in his seat. Peter didn't complain about his shoes for once. He wondered if the hospital knew about the memory loss.
"No I dropped you off, so you don't remember why you were in one of the worse parts of town?" Peter asked but knew the answer in Neal's startled expression. He wished there was at least some colour was coming back to his face.
"No, I... I think I was mugged and then I got lost..." Neal told him.
"You got lost in New York? Only you, Neal." Peter smiled to show he was only teasing but Neal was lost in his own thoughts.
---
Neal was surprised when Peter followed him inside June's apartment but then realised Peter was probably ordered to stay with him while his anklet was off.
"Y...you know you don't have to stay, I won't run and if you don't tell them you left me for a few hours I promise I...I won't." Neal suggested thinking Peter probably wanted to get back to his wife.
"No trust me, even if I was allowed to leave, you I would not want to go home right now," At Neal's curious look he flinched. "Forget it, it's not important. You go get warm." Neal who gladly went to try and get some proper clothes on instead of the stiff thin scrubs he was wearing ripped his top and barely noticed Peter look away blushing as he dragged two of his thickest turtleneck jumpers out his wardrobe. He was thankful to June once again. He went into his bedroom to change into flannel pyjama bottoms. They weren't the warmest but he refused to wear jeans to bed.
Under his quilt, he knew Peter would be surprised when Neal let out a string of the worst foul language he'd probably ever heard. Like with guns, just because he doesn't like them doesn't mean he doesn't know how to use them. He only used them now because he didn't want to cry in frustration in front of Peter and he was close to it.
He was never gonna be warm again, he though. Peter came in to see what all the fuss was about.
"Why is it so cold," Neal whined, like the kid Peter thought he was sometimes. Peter wanted to make a suggestion but didn't want Neal to take it the wrong way. Well he did want Neal to take it the wrong way and want it anyway but he should leave that for a later date, when Neal was completely healthy.
"If you're that cold, we could try body heat." He said quietly. He saw Neal look up surprised but he looked like he thought the idea through cause the next thing he said was...
"Please?"
Peter tried not to look too pleased walking over to slide under the covers with Neal. He gasped as they touched though. Neal was frozen through and through. He couldn't stop himself touching Neal then but there was nothing sexual about it. He pressed his forehead to Neal's, hands running up and down his arms and his neck.
"Jesus, maybe we shouldn't have left the hospital so quick." Peter said almost himself, completely absorbed in his task.
"No, it's warmer here, trust me." Neal murmured quietly. Peter had just gotten Neal's hands and was blowing warmth into them when he heard Neal make an odd noise. Neal was blushing and it was hard to tell because it could have just been the colour coming back to his face but the way Neal was staring at his finger tips where they met Peter's mouth, he swallowed hard.
Before he lost his nerve, Peter moved a little bit closer and kissed the mouth he'd obsessed about since he had chased and caught the younger man a few years before. He smiled happy when he felt Neal kiss him back. He tried to kiss away the shivers that wracked the younger man at regular intervals.
Then he gasped ripping himself away as Neal's cold hands slipped under the back of his shirt. Neal managed to look apologetic and pleased at the same time as Peter glared at him.
"That was just cruel." He told him glaring. As payback, he reclaimed the hands before they could do further damage. He had always bet Neal's hands were sensitive because of all the careful work he had to do with them. Now he was able to test that theory.
Kissing the tip of Neal's finger, he got a sharp gasp as his tongue brushed under the pad. Then with no further warning he wrapped his mouth around the tip sucking to get a different kind of heat in Caffrey. He waited swirling his tongue, Neal had closed his eyes and his breath was coming faster. He scraped his teeth along the pad when he felt a little warmer to Peter and felt Neal give a shudder he knew had nothing to do with the cold.
Neal moaned when he moved onto the next digit and whimpered as he pressed their bodies closer.
"Peter...Peter, please..." The heat rising under Peter's collar with those words; he kept toying with Neal's fingers while his other hand slipped lower. He found proof that Neal was indeed getting warmer and moaned around Neal's finger's. His hand down the front of Neal's pant's gripping him and starting to stroke.
Neal moaned, fingers curling in his with the pleasure. When he did a particular twist, Neal gasped ripping his fingers away to painfully grip at Peter's arms in a desperate attempt to hold on.
Peter planted small kisses all over Neal's parted lips, he was so glad Neal hadn't been seriously hurt today. "It's okay, I got you." He whispered and Neal fell over the edge. While Neal caught his breath Peter undid his own pant's to stop his own growing problem. It only took a few strokes after seeing Neal in such ecstasy.
Neal murmured a protest as Peter got a warm washcloth from the bathroom but sighed contentedly when he was back and cleaned them both up. Neal had taken off one of his jumpers and had wrapped himself around Peter in a way that Peter thought would be impossible for him to untangle.
"You warm now?" Peter chuckled. Neal sighed contentedly which Peter took as a yes and soon the young man was warm enough to fall asleep.
Neal's last thought was to wonder, if his luck was so bad, why did it always bring him closer to Peter? Maybe it wasn't so bad after all, he smiled, leaning against Peter's warm chest.