Title: Falling
Fandom: White Collar
Pairing: Peter/Neal
Categories: AU, Romance
Length: Long (27,509)
Warnings: None

Author on LJ: sahiya
Author Website: AO3

Author's Summary:
Neal Caffrey is a professional figure skater struggling to land a quad. Peter Burke is a professional hockey player struggling to come back from an injury in time for the Olympics. Neither of them is looking to fall in love. Fortunately for them, their rink manager can't read a schedule.

Review:
I think one of the things I appreciated the most about this fic is that it's just a sweet, realistic sort of AU that has no huge highs or lows, but is satisfying all the same. Both Neal and Peter are slated to go to the Olympics and each have their own set of troubles--Neal is having difficulties landing the quad and Peter is in the latter stages of recovering from a broken leg. You would think that'd be an opportunity for epic angst except no, both Neal and Peter are professionals and neither are hugely dramatic about what's happened/what's happening to them.

It's mostly the quiet sweetness that I adored. Both Neal and Peter kind of instantly like each other, but they don't jump into the relationship right away. It's a steady build that just feels really real. And the side characters are pretty much awesome. Mozzie, who is Neal's coach, still views Peter with a healthy amount of skepticism, and El is Peter's hocky team's awesome PR manager.

You don't actually get to the Olympics in this fic though. The author says that she'll be writing the next story soonish (which I am waiting for rather like a faithful guard dog), but this fic is still complete without it (though I still want more, okay, but that's me being greedy). Just a really solid fic.

Falling