Fandom:WHITE COLLAR
Pairing: Neal/Peter/El, Mozzie
Length: 21,000 words
Author on LJ:
out_there Author Website: out_there on A03 Why this must be read: I have an abiding love for outsider-POV fic. This White Collar story is shaped around the intricacies of Neal, Peter, and El's relationship, but it's told strictly from Mozzie's perspective.
out_there does such a great job capturing Mozzie's skewed voice that it was easy for me to hear him in my head as I read this. I think it's incredibly hard to use the voice of an outsider to tell the story of someone else's relationship- How do you get the emotional payoff that you would normally find with a direct telling? How do you keep the story relevant to the character telling it, if it centers on someone else? The answer, of course, is that you leave it in the hands of a clever writer, and you get this, the tale of how Mozzie learned to stop worrying, and
love trust plot with The Suit and Mrs. Suit, to save Neal from his own (potentially) poor decisions.
I was particularly fond of the interaction between Mozzie and El- like the show itself, it's obvious here that Mozzie likes and respects her, and I dig that. Getting a peek at what Mozzie actually DOES, when Neal isn't pestering him for favours, was fun too.
( 'There's just one thing I want to know,' Mozzie says once they're out of June's house. ) Martyrs Never Last This Long