Archive of Our Own

“So what’s the deal with Arthur?” Ariadne asks one day, plopping down in the chair in front of Eames.

“The deal?” Eames asks, glancing up from a file Arthur had handed to him. Eames learned the hard way to always always read anything Arthur handed to him.

“Yeah, I mean, you’ve worked with him before, right? Is he always like this, or is he just under a lot of pressure because it’s inception?”

“Is he always like what, exactly?” Eames asks, tired of the conversation he ended up having with every person who worked with Arthur for the first time. Ariadne is inquisitive, much in the same way that he is, but she lets it get to her and makes it personal. Eames is a firm believer in staying out of people’s business.

“Is he always a complete robot with a stick up his butt?” Ariadne asks, pressing despite the fact that Eames is very obviously trying to subtly show his lack of desire to enter this conversation.

Eames opens his mouth, ready to defend Arthur. He’s ready to tell Ariadne that she had no idea what she was talking about, to be indignant and offended on Arthur's behalf for once.

But Arthur chooses that second to walk into the room and ask Ariadne if she had those blueprints ready for him yet.

**

That night they’re in Arthur’s apartment getting ready to leave. Eames is headed down to Australia to familiarize himself more intimately with Peter Browning and Arthur is driving him to the airport. Eames is leaning against the front door, watching Arthur tuck his wallet and phone into his pocket, pat himself down to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything, check Eames’s bags to make sure they’ve been tagged with the appropriate alias. He reaches out and pulls Arthur towards him by the belt loops of his jeans, nuzzling his face into Arthur’s neck, grinning at the soft sigh this elicited.

“You should have let me speak to her. You’re going to work with her again eventually.”

“Eames, I have a reputation to maintain,” Arthur huffs, sounding fond. “I can’t do that if you’re running around, defending my honor.”

“Your work speaks for itself, darling.” Eames murmurs, leaving his head tucked into the curve of Arthur’s neck, his cheek resting against the soft fabric of the Foo Fighters t-shirt Eames had bought for Arthur at the concert they consider their first real date.

“As someone who actually looks their age, you don’t really get to have an opinion on this.” The conversation is one they’ve had a million times before and there isn’t any heat behind it. Arthur isn’t angry, and Eames is only mildly exasperated.

“Well, your reputation makes it so that no one in dreamshare wants to be your friend,” Eames says.

“The people I work with aren’t the kinds of people I want to be friends with,” Arthur says, tilting his head slightly to look at Eames, smiling so the corner of his eyes crinkle. Eames is very much aware of this. He’s met some of Arthur’s friends, ex-military buddies, friends from college. He envies Arthur just a bit, for being able to separate his criminal life from his normal life so well. Eames has never really had a “normal” life.

“I’ll miss you when I’m down under,” Eames murmurs in his best Australian accent. Arthur snorts and pull away.

“Come on, maybe we can get some dinner if we get there early enough.”

**

A year later they’ve all been invited to James’s birthday party. Yusuf doesn’t show, he tells Eames that California weather doesn’t suit him but Eames knows that he’s still too afraid to show his face. Eames spends most of the party by the refreshments, he isn’t very good with kids, and Arthur isn't any better, but they’ve both been a part of James and Phillipa’s lives for a very long time. Too long to be able to turn down a birthday party invitation. Besides, Eames is awesome at telling stories.

Eames is watching Arthur lose spectacularly at Pokemon cards to James. Eames knows he’s doing it on purpose, because he knows that Arthur has been playing Pokemon cards since he was in middle school. He’s also been in the middle of some very heated “debates” between Arthur and his younger half-brother about whether or not Pokemon is better than something called Yu Gi Oh.

Ariadne wanders up to him, standing next to him and crossing her arms over her chest, clearly playing the grown up even though Eames had just seen her in the bouncy castle, laughing her head off. He isn’t quite sure how she became such a large part of their lives, but Phillipa and James adore her, so he supposes it’s alright.

“I was wrong about Arthur, you know,” she says nonchalantly, taking a sip of SunnyD. Eames tears his gaze away from Arthur and raises an unimpressed eyebrow at her. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?” she adds, having the sense to sound sheepish about it.

“I’ve worked with him before.” Eames answers simply.