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[abrightboy]

 This is Bright. Leave a message.

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i forgot for a moment how annoying html is on a phone

[conning]

"Malcolm, hi."

Neal keeps his voice confident and smooth, falling easily into the lie he thought of to make the call in the first place.

"I was just wondering, with... the dietary restrictions you have, is wine okay? Or something else on the alcoholic spectrum?"

[abrightboy]

He practically sags with relief. He’s not canceling.

“Oh. Wine is fine.” Does he sound too excited? Be cool. “Um. How… have you been?”

[conning]

“Since Thursday?”

The question is briefly, sincerely quizzical, before he remembers Malcolm has been here two months longer than he has.

“Oh, nothing supernatural. Other than… do we call it ‘usual’?”

[abrightboy]

“I… guess.” He huffs a laugh. “It takes some getting used to. How did the Robin Hood thing go?” he asks.

[conning]

"Productively," he says, tone impish. "I'll be able to supplement my wardrobe a bit before the end of the month, tourism being what it is at the moment."

[abrightboy]

“That must be a relief,” Malcolm tells him. He goes into his own room and shuts the door, sitting on the bed, pulling his legs up to sit crosslegged. “I don’t think there’s much hope for mine.”

[conning]

"It'll still be a big step down from Devore, but needs must."

Neal leans on the rail of the roof of his building, looking out at the limited view and missing Paris. Missing New York even more, but that's an ache he's used to by now.

"You consult with the NYPD?"

[abrightboy]

“Lately, yeah. Well. Lately before here,” he quickly amends.

[conning]

Neal stays quiet for long enough to annoy himself with the obvious sentimentality involved in what he wants to ask.

"How is it? New York?" He says it like he's asking after a friend. "For you, I mean."

[abrightboy]

“Well, I’m rich there and most people don’t know who I actually am, so it’s great for me,” he replies in blunt honesty before pausing, then asking “Have you been there?”

[conning]

"Off and on." He manages to keep his tone light. "On for a few years before ending up in Paris again."

[abrightboy]

“Which do you like better?” Malcolm asks softly.

[conning]

"Paris has the Musée d'Orsay, the Paris Modern Art Museum, Rodin's museum, the Louvre. I'm doing some consultation work for the lattermost."

He smiles faintly. "Spent my first winter in a while there. The Hôtel de Ville is even more beautiful at night than I remember it, with the snow and the skating rink out front. Sainte-Chapelle..."

The smile turns a little dreamy. "There is nothing in the world like standing in that cathedral in front of fifty foot stained glass windows, knowing that their maker, the cathedral's builder, everything about who King Louis IX commissioned is completely unknown."

[abrightboy]

“Paris certainly has a lot more history than New York. It sounds romantic, the way you describe it. Even more than its reputation. Is… do you have someone waiting for you there?” he asks carefully.

Maybe Neal just wants a friend. Maybe what Malcolm thought was flirting was just the way he talks.

[conning]

He makes a soft sound that isn’t quite a laugh. “Amis-amants. Nothing serious. I’m mostly there for the history, the art, and the work. There’s plenty of places that want to consult someone with my skill set, not just museums. How about you? Anyone back in New York?”

[abrightboy]

Malcolm laughs. That’s funny.

“I have a parakeet named ‘Sunshine’ that probably misses me.” He pauses a moment. “Do the places that consult you know you used to be a thief?”

[conning]

“That’s why they want me,” he says, amused. “No one can stop a thief like a thief. I got some consultation requests from R&D at a few tech firms and security companies while I was… in the states, but I couldn’t take them at the time.”

[abrightboy]

“The FBI kept you busy, huh? I have some long work days too. Crime never sleeps or… something like that,” he acknowledges.

[conning]

“You could say that.” It’s not wrong. Neal straightens a little, bracing his free hand against the railing.

“I didn’t mind the hours when the cases were interesting, but my agreement with them saw me doing a lot of day-to-day mundanities like mortgage fraud too.”

[abrightboy]

“Is that why you left it to go to France?” he asks. It would make sense that he’s want to be able to choose what he works on.

[conning]

“That was a part of it. Not the overwhelming reason, but one of them.” He considers his further answer. “The FBI kept demanding more without making it worth my while, too.”

[abrightboy]

“Yeah, they do that. Everyone is a tool to be used,” he agrees. “Until they’re used up.”

[conning]

Neal makes a noise that isn’t really amusement.

“I realized that about half-way through a contract I couldn’t break. They got close, with me. Fortunately I have a very thorough lawyer.”

He smiles faintly at the thought of Mozzie, thinking about how much he would love this whole situation. A whole new world of conspiracy theories to explore.

[abrightboy]

“I’m glad you got out in time,” Malcolm tells him. “Even if… you subsequently ended up here. Not that. I’m not glad about that. It’s just. A bit of a double edged sword.”

[conning]

“I had a leisurely year in France before this. I’ll live.”

Then hopefully go home. He’ll make it, if that’s an impossibility, he can adapt, but he held out some hope he’d get to see his people again.

A pause. “Is it better or worse for you? Given what happened with your dad.”