#eamesxarthur

"But Harvey—"

"Mike!"

Upon which Mike, to Eames's utter and eternal lack of surprise, practically springs to his feet and, with barely a glance over his shoulder, follows Harvey out of the room like a puppy at heel.

A naughty, droop-tailed, wide-eyed—

"No, Eames," Arthur says, with a quirk of his mouth, as the door clicks shut behind them.

"No what?" Eames manages to sound affronted.

"No, we cannot do any puppy play until the job is done."

"Awwww."

So like...it’s always been kinda odd when I go back and watch Inception to then turn to the fics and there’s so much of this idea that Arthur’s, well, a stick in the mud. And I figure like...okay, I can kiiiind of see that? And Eames does call him that, but I was more fixated on his interactions with Eames and then it hit me...apart from Eames (and Ariadne a little) Arthur is like that 

He’s calling Nash an asshole or getting exasperated with Cobb, he’s got worry in his eyes and a frown on his face and he’s shaking his head. 

I know his mind likes clean lines and when there’s order, there’s pattern, he does well with that shit 

And yeah, he wears a suit like nobody’s business, crisp and put together, he’s a fine little tight ass. 

He speaks a lot in monotone, almost swallowing his words more often than not and has a tendency to be the “mom friend” of the group (it’s something about his “Alright make sure you do, we’re here to work” and his rushing to Ariadne’s side when she wakes up freaking out, reassuring her that she’s alright, she’s awake now, thing that does it, I guess) 

And with Ariadne, yes, he’s a little more relaxed. Personally, I feel like he sees her as a friend, a partner in crime of sorts. I think he’s intrigued by her talent and would gladly spend a day watching her build and showing her new mazes. 

But even with her there’s still this wall at times. Even after ~the kiss~ he kind of smiles as he gets up, but it’s so faint and his demeanor is subdued, more than likely with worry because he was not in favor of the Mr. Charles idea, but still 

With Eames, though, he’s more relaxed. Yeah, he’s still giving him a look after Eames demonstrates what a kick is, but he’s also leaning back in his chair and he’s even being playful with Eames. 

And like there’s Eames lying on the floor, looking up at Arthur with fucking bedroom eyes while Arthur’s sliding himself, I mean the IV, into Eames and they have that whole flirty exchange, Arthur even does this like...bravado thing (”then I shall lead them on a merry chase!”) and it’s like ???????? who’s this guy?????? (also still note that in spite of alllllll the shit that happens he loses his cool the most when he thinks Eames might have been hurt while they’re in the cab. Even with Cobb screaming in his face, pointing his finger, Arthur’s still deadly calm and barely raises his voice. But when he turns back to check on Eames he’s almost screaming “Are you alright?!”) 

Seriously, Nolan, what’s the deal with these two, what’s their history? 

They’ve obviously worked together before and for some reason Arthur knows exactly where Eames is when Cobb says he’s going to recruit him. (”Eames? He’s in Mombasa.”) 

But more than that, like...Arthur’s honestly his most relaxed and most fun when he’s around Eames???? 

I think it’s also note-worthy that Eames probably didn’t have the best education or possibly even has a learning disorder of some kind? Cobb quips him about his spelling to which he gets a prompt “piss off” from Eames and his entire body language is guarded and closed off. 

Eames himself isn’t necessarily afraid to poke fun at himself (”I’m sorry, maths has never been my strong suit, how much time is that?”) but Arthur seems to be the only one (apart from perhaps Yusuf although we never get to see him tease Eames, but I’m guessing he does after the whole “Bit too much free champagne before takeoff, eh, Yusuf?” exchange) that can poke fun at Eames in this way and not get a closed door. (”Excuse me for wanting a little specificity.” “Speci...?” “Specificity?”) Although to be fair you could just read that as Eames giving Arthur a hard time over using a ~fancy word, I guess, but the fact that Arthur comes back with a sarcastic repetition of the word with the “you’ve seriously never heard this word before?” tone, plus the other context clues about Eames’ education or perhaps lack thereof would suggest Arthur is poking fun at him for it  

And don’t get me wrong, Arthur still has his moments around Eames. His total bitchface during the infamous “Don’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling” scene and then Arthur’s comment to Eames about how he needs to work faster. 

The latter of which is funny too because Eames looks fucking wounded after that. Like he just kind of stares even after Arthur’s walked away and I mean...he cheats at poker, he knows how to keep his emotions on lockdown and he’s a forger, wearing a mask is second nature, but in spite of that you can still see something there and it’s just...upsetting. Of course Arthur didn’t mean to be so abrupt, they’re all stressed to the absolute breaking point, and I like to imagine he apologized for it later but it still seems like he did a little damage 

In spite of that, for the most part Arthur just seems so much more comfortable whenever Eames is there. And again, I just have to wonder like...was it always like that between them? I mean, probably not, right? I feel like Arthur probably had his guard up whenever he first met Eames and was a spoilsport and a hardass which just delighted Eames to no end. Eames probably spent a lot of time pick-pocketing the point man and just constantly giving him shit. And I’m sure Arthur’s feathers were properly ruffled for a good while until he realized Eames genuinely meant no harm and was only doing it because he, at times, has the maturity level of your average fifth-grader so naturally when he likes someone he’s gonna be a little shit about it. I think once Eames proved himself to be a valuable member of the team, Arthur probably came around and slowly started to warm up to Eames and where we see them in the movie is sort of the result of that, perhaps a midway point in whatever type of relationship it is they have (workplace proximity associates, friends, lovers??? idk) 

Title: Corked

Pairing: Arthur/Eames

Rating: M (for sexual content)

Chapter: 5/10(?)

Excerpt: 

As he leans against the island in Eames’s kitchen and watches the mostly-nude British man himself prepare him lamb vindaloo, Arthur considers, futilely, how few indulgences he used to allow into his life.