Work Text:
Arthur and Eames are in a pediatric waiting room waiting for their shots. Arthur, well, Arthur is more than a little bit scared and for some reason, Eames, what kind of name is Eames for a 6 year old and why does he talk funny, is not as scared.
"My momma said I have to be a big boy and get my shots today. She said big boys and girls need their shots to be healthy," Arthur says to a little blonde haired boy sitting across from him. They are rolling trucks around on a carpet designed like a little town. There are roads and houses, trees and a park. Arthur asked his mother for one for his birthday, but "Momma said i’d only play on it once and then forget about it, so I got a sup…sup… super soaker, instead.” He blushes from ear to ear when he looks up and sees Eames smiling at him. “I stutter sometimes. Momma said I’ll grow out of it."
The little blonde haired boy, Eames, “what kind of name is that and why do you talk so funny? My grandma talks funny are you from where’s she’s from?” Eames just stared at him. Pushing his truck around, but not really playing with it. Just staring at Arthur and thinking to himself, boy, he sure does talk a lot.
"Why do you talk so much? It don’t bother me, I just wanna know", Eames said with his head cocked to the left, long blond hair falling into his eyes and a smile on his face.
"My momma said that I talk too much when I’m ne…ner…nervous", Arthur says sitting back on his haunches and blush spreading across his cheeks.
"It’s just a shot. It don’t even hurt. My mum says I must be really good with pain because I never cry", Eames says with a smug look on his face, long strands of hair block the grin he’s sporting.
"You must be really brave then. I wish I was brave like you", he says, brown eyes looking at the floor, his brown curls fall onto his face and sit on his apple red cheeks.
"You’re plenty brave, Arthur."
His stomach does something weird, but it’s not a bad weird, and the little indentations in his cheeks start to show as he beams to himself.
"Tha…th… th…thanks"
Eames leans forward and pushes his finger into one of Arthur’s dimples, making the boy turn an even deeper shade of red and causing him to giggle.
“That tickles”
Eames smiles at him through his long hair, showing a few spaces in his mouth where some teeth have fallen out and gets up to sit next to Arthur, looking at him for a long time before they quietly go back to playing with their trucks. If Arthur doesn’t like the other boys stares and attention, he never says so.
Before long, Arthur is up for his shots and Eames stands with him, even though his name wasn’t called. The nurse looks at the boys with curiosity on her face and asked them which one is Arthur, since they both can’t be, just to tease them. Arthur proudly says he’s the real Arthur with a finger to his chest and that the boy next to him was Eames. Their mothers just laugh amongst themselves from the row of seats along the wall. Eames’ mother finally asks him what he was doing and he shyly goes over to her and says, “Well, I wanna to go back with him. See, he’s scared cause of the needles and I told him I wasn’t scared. So, I wanna go back with him, Mum.”
All the adults in the room practically melt. Eames’ mother looks to the nurse, who shows no sign of having a problem with it and Arthur’s mother, too, sees no issue and only says, “If Arthur says you can, then you have my ok.” Eames turns to look at Arthur with a stern look on his face, but his eyes betray him with their wistfulness. Arthur looks at his mother, who only nods at him before walking up to Eames, grabbing his hand and walking up to the nurse.
“I…I’d very much like him to b…be with me.”
The nurse nodded and led the boys down a short hallway and into a room. As the door to the waiting room closed behind them, all of the adults could be heard saying ‘aw’.