Whoever Fights Monsters (107327 words) by circ_bamboo, feelslikefire
Rating: Explicit
Relationships: James Bond/Q, Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey
Additional Tags: Plot With Porn, Suit Porn, Gadget Porn, art porn, Food Porn, Espionage, Snark, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Angst, Bond is a shady fuck, Bond is still a shady fuck, Eve is the HBIC, Diana is a BAMF, Neal Caffrey Public Menace, scones for the Queen, Threesome - F/M/M, Slow Burn
Summary: "Should I start, or would you like to?" Neal asked Q.

"Are you going to draw this out?" Q said. "It's really quite simple. Some years ago, before MI6, before Neal's little bond mishap—"

"Alleged bond mishap," Neal said—mostly out of reflex, Q thought.

"You were convicted by a jury of your peers," Q said. "It's somewhat less alleged at this point. Nonetheless, before . . . that, Neal and I . . . were acquainted."

Or: When Q hears that the FBI is bringing one Neal Caffrey to British soil for an investigation, he's fully expecting trouble with a capital T. Naturally, what he gets is much worse: par for the course when you're dating James Bond and you're old friends with an international art thief.

Why you should read this: first of all, this is the sequel to slow dancing in a burning room, recced here. this sequel is perfect in so many ways, i'm in awe, really. the quality of writing has remained consistently high, the characterisation is great (and with that, their voices - all so distinctive), i love diana and moneypants kicking ass, the hints to everything that came before, and just. this made me smile so so so much while reading. it's the perfect fic to just dive into and stay in for a while. i want to read it all over again, starting with slow dancing, and just never resurface ever again.

it's a great crossover too, made very believable! i don't want to be a dick and diss on other crossovers, but the bondlock crossovers are...many in numbers, while crossovers with white collar are considerably rarer. it's very refreshing, and as a big fan of white collar and the peter/el/neal ot3, this was perfect in all ways. i especially thought the ot3 development was handled very well, especially considering the fact that i actually never read fics with them because explicit sex between these characters squicks me something bad, and i tend to prefer the non-sexual non-romantic version of the ot3.

this was a joy to read. <3