Title: Welcome To A New World
Fandom: White Collar
Wordcount: 415
Rating: G
Characters: Neal
Notes: Another thing I've been meaning to write for a while and never got around to doing until now. Neal seeming to have the ability to travel into art he creates. Also no, I could not resist getting one more in before the time was up.
Summary: Neal creates his own escapes.


His hands move over the canvas, the sketch coming quickly and easily. It's nothing impressive, nothing to marvel at, but it's still good. Still high quality. He never does anything but -- never would
want to do anything but.

Neal pays close attention to detail, despite it only being a sketch, a rough outline of what's going to come. He is careful to put the work into it that he would put into anything else, not because he really needs to but because he wants to, because he wants this to be good in the end, to be something he can treasure.

Sometimes he does this, makes something just for himself. He needs it: the soothing motions of pencils or charcoal on paper, the sound of the tip against the page. It's comforting, a reminder that the world can come to a halt, even if it's just for a few minutes.

He keeps drawing, keeps creating until he has a forest: a strange, dark place, but not unfriendly, in its way. It looks peculiar and magical, and like one could get lost in it. Just what he wants, what
he needs.

Because Neal needs to get lost for a while; needs to escape for a bit, even if it was only for what one would think is a short time.

He drops the pencil and studies the picture, looks it up and down to see if there's anything he needs to fix. Then he passes a hand over the canvas, sucking in a deep breath and closing his eyes, and pushing forward, pushing through the page, through reality, through the world he knows and into a different one.

The land where the forest resides, the strange place where all art lives and breathes and moves.

Neal opens his eyes and finds himself in the middle of the forest, a sketch of June's apartment sitting behind him. He picks it up, studies it; then sticks it under his arm and starts walking.

It's not perfect, his little escapes, but it's something. It's a relief from the 'real' world, it's a break from the life he's got now, when he needs it. It's safety and wonder all at once, a man-made reality that he can lose himself in when he needs it.

Because everyone needs their little breaks, right? Everyone needs to escape from reality every so often, that's normal.

Then again, what does Neal Caffrey know about normal?