Spreading the tales of a con man

Title: Burnout
Author: augustbird
Spoilers: only for season one
Characters: Peter, Neal, OCs
Pairings: Peter/Neal (very slight), Neal/OMC
Warning: graphic non-con, torture both physical and mental
Summary: It was easy to pretend that it wasn’t Neal Caffrey undergoing this ordeal, just somebody who looked and acted just like him. Written for collarkink.

Why rec'd? So here I am back again with another rec that is very different from my usual reccing fare. Neal and Peter are held prisoner by a sadistic captor who wants Neal for his own personal thief, and, along the way, forces Neal to have sex with him by hurting Peter. I can't lie, this fic totally mashed down both my physical and emotional h/c buttons *g*, but what makes it really rec-worthy is that Neal and Peter are so thoroughly them in this scenario -- as opposed to being helplessly trapped, they are clever and resourceful and brave and determined to survive long enough to get out. A big part of my enjoyment in this story was watching them quietly find ways to do end runs around the bad guy's constant surveillance, finding sneaky methods for passing messages and making plans in their very limited time together, even while Peter is so badly injured that he's basically incapacitated and Neal is being watched every minute.

One other warning that I wanted to add besides the standard ones is that the ending might be unsatisfying to some -- this story doesn't really end so much as it stops, although the main plot is resolved. It feels more like the first part of a WiP than a story that is entirely complete in itself. But if this sort of plot is your cup of tea, it's definitely worth reading regardless!