laughing_lovers

So I made an anonymous fill on the kink_meme about 3 weeks ago, and I've decided to formally post it. Because why not. Plus, all the mistakes from hastily posting it the first time around have been slowly nagging at my brain. So here it is! And hopefully it's easier to read this time.

Also, I should note that this is my 3rd (or 4th?!?!?!) finished fic. I don't even know. Tumor fic, I'm sorry that I abandoned you! Maybe one day. Another also, stupid livejournal is not working well with me. Cake to the face! Why is it showing the whole sections as one big block of text? I can't get it to separate in the post. Here, it looks as it should. And the once it's posted, it's a clusterfuck of text! Help. Okay, now the spaces are working, but when I try to put it behind a cut, it just disappears altogether. wtaf. I've never had this many problems with LJ before. Oh well. No cut it is! And I'm doing it in html! OF COURSE.




It's all rated PG, except for one NC-17ish part. It's appx 2,000 words and was written for this prompt on the _meme.




5 times Arthur and Eames got caught, and 1 time they were shameless.

---1---

The first time it happens, the team is working on a two-layer extraction. It's not particularly difficult, except Eames is doubled up as the extractor and forger. After Cobb retired, Eames takes it upon himself to start learning a different aspect of dreamsharing so he can be a part of the jobs that don't necessarily require a forger. This job is just Eames, Arthur, some new architect from Munich, and Ariadne showing the new guy the ropes.

Although it's not a secret that Arthur and Eames are together, they're not affectionate at work. Ariadne had once noticed the slow down on the amount of workplace-kissing and had nervously approached Eames about it. He just snorted and gave a side-long glance at her. "I'm much too busy to be concerned with any level of public displays of affection, although I thank you for your concern."

Feeling bold, she asked the same of Arthur. He was chewing on the end of his pen and looked up from his paper with a grin. "I think we fill our quota at home. Any other questions while you're here?"

Ariadne just laughed with a blush coloring her cheeks and scuttled back over to her work.

They're going on a test run for this job, checking to see how the new architect is handling creating more than one level of dreaming. It's supposed to be a lake on an overcast day, but the last time they had gone under, it was more like a creek in a rainstorm. The four of them are prepping and getting settled in their chair, with the exception of Eames who looks like he's having a hard time. Arthur comes over to Eames with a small smile and offers to help.

"You know I've always had a little trouble with finding the vein."

"I know," Arthur says, simply. He lifts up Eames' wrist to insert the cannula, and once it's in, he smiles and presses his lips to Eames' palm. "Ready?"

Eames grins up at him, and neither of them notice Ariadne and the German watching them.


---2---

The second time it happens, it's a little less sappy. Arthur and Eames are throwing a housewarming party for their new house in Chicago. Their cozy abode is filled with their closest friends and acquaintances. After a couple of drinks and too much time spent mingling with old friends, Eames starts subtly running his fingertips along Arthur's arm and knee when they pass. Soon, the touches become more obvious and they casually slip into the guest bathroom in the hall. Eames goes in first, and Arthur follows a minute later. As soon as Arthur closes the door behind him, Eames pushes him up against the sink, biting at Arthur's jaw. Arthur's deft fingers start to pull at Eames' belt, working to undo the zipper and pull his pants down.

"Do you wanna..." Eames starts, opening the drawer to fish out some lube and a condom.

"God, yes. Fuck, Eames, yes. Take off your shirt," Arthur croaks, while hastily removing his own pants. He puts on the condom then grabs the lube and squeezes some onto his hardening cock, squeezing and pumping a couple of times for good measure. "Lean over for me."

Eames leans over the sink and lifts his right foot to place on the lid of the toilet.

With his slick fingers, Arthur inserts the tip of his finger into Eames, trying to quickly loosen him and get him ready. After adding a second finger, Eames whines a little. Taking this as a sign, Arthur pushes up into Eames, leaning forward and wrapping his arms around Eames' waist. Quickly driving in, Arthur leans his head down to place several sloppy kisses along the expanse of Eames' back. It isn't until they hear a small squeak that they realize Saito had pushed open the door to try to use the restroom.

They both freeze, looking at the door that was quickly closing. With a small chuckle, Eames pushes back down on Arthur and moves his arm around to bring Arthur's mouth up to his own.


---3---

A couple of months later, they're in Chile and freezing in a poorly insulated warehouse. It's 5:30 in the morning and Arthur, an extractor from Florida, and the German architect are already working because their mark works nights since it "helps his productivity." The mark is a Brazilian transplant who favored the west coast and wanted to get the hell away from his main competitors from Sao Paulo. He was supposed to be working on new designs for a commercial aircraft, but instead of doing his job, he had actually been sneaking off with his Chilean mistress. Ferreira, the guy who hired them, is more interested in the design plans than the affair part, though.

Eames had flown down to Chile with Arthur, though. "Just in case things got out of hand. You know how those Brazilians are." Eames had spoken confidently, like he knew for a fact that Brazilians were notorious for being overly suspicious or extra-dangerous, but Arthur had just nodded and bought an extra plane ticket.

As it were, 5:30 a.m. in August is extremely chilly. Unthinkingly, Arthur doesn't grab any breakfast on his way to work. Knowing this, Eames decides to stop at a corner store and bring up some cafe con leche for the team. He comes into the warehouse and is met with small cheers. After placing the cup in Arthur's white fingers, he shows a toothy grin. "I thought you might enjoy a healthy dose of caffeine."

Arthur relishes the feeling of the warmth from the cup and closes the gap between them to plant a noisy kiss against Eames' cheek. The other two snicker at the noise and sip at their hot coffee.

With raised eyebrows, Eames picks up his own coffee and tries to hide his smile into the cup.


---4---

After the Ferreira job is over, Arthur and Eames fly up to California to celebrate Philippa's 10th birthday. She's having a pool party, since it's September, and she and several of her friends are splashing in the pool and giggling wildly. They've brought her a fancy little cell phone and a new dress. Cobb doesn't much like the idea of the cell phone because of its internet access, but Arthur just chuckles.

"Sorry, Cobb. You know how much kids these days love their friend requests and twitters," Eames supplies.

" 'Kids these days'? All right, old man. We get it, you're still cool," Arthur jokes while poking Eames in the rib playfully.
Eames looks over at Arthur in mock-offense and pulls at the string on Arthur's swim trunks.

"Hey hey, kids party, remember?" Cobb scolds.

The three of them go to sit down in beach chairs and Philippa and one of her friends come up to Eames bashfully and ask him if he wants to go swimming with them. He smiles and responds, "of course, dears! I was just putting on my sunblock now. I can't be ruining this beautiful skin, you know."

The girls giggle and stand there waiting for him to get ready while drinking some juice that Cobb hands them. Eames turns to flash a grin at Arthur, who is already in the process of putting it on his back. Arthur leans over and quickly kisses Eames' shoulder before rubbing sunscreen on it, then sends him on his way to go swim.

Arthur watches as Eames cannon balls into the deeper end of the pool where none of the girls are swimming. The splash nearly reaches the other end, making the girls scream and laugh. Feeling Cobb's stare out of his periphery, Arthur turns to look at him. "What?"

Cobb smiles back and squints out into the sun. "I think you better get in there and save him before the girls swallow him whole."

Rubbing the sunblock on his face, Arthur makes a small noise of assent and heads over to the pool.


---5---

On every other occasion, Arthur tests out new compounds of the Somnacin. This time around, though, Yusuf has prohibited him from doing so since he's still on antibiotics from a particularly heinous sinus infection. Cobb had volunteered to test it out after Yusuf had called him. This appeased Arthur a little, but not much. Moping in the corner, Arthur mumbles things about how he won't know what to look for.

At the last minute, Cobb called to cancel apologetically, due to James spraining an ankle at school. Arthur had perked up, hoping he would be able to go in and make sure everything was all right from a technical standpoint. Not budging, Yusuf had pushed him back down into his chair with a menacing look.

Eames stands up from his chair where he had been silently watching, and offers to be the test subject. Arthur also gets up with a frown. "No, absolutely not. Sometimes, these turn out dangerous. There's no use taking the risk. Let's just wait a couple of days until I'm off these meds."

Eames grows tender and leads Arthur back to the chair, kneeling next to him once Arthur is seated. "Arthur, you know I'm fond of you. I really am. But I can handle the dreamspace just as well as you. Not as well, of course," he adds. "It'll be quick. You'll hardly know I'm gone."

Arthur childishly doesn't look Eames in the face but just looks at Yusuf with his eyebrows raised. Yusuf stares back for a second, deciding, before shrugging and hooking Eames up. Eames smirks and sits back in his own chair, only slightly nervous.

In the five minutes that he is under, Arthur notes that Eames has thrashed about three times, and his fingers have twitched eleven times. Not typically the best sign, but it could be worse.

The timer finally runs out, and as soon as Eames open his eyes, his hand flies up to cover them up and he groans. Worried, Arthur goes over to him and asks him how he feels.

"I've got a headache the size of our bloody house, actually. Write that one down."

Arthur breathes through his nose while he scribbles the note, mouth turned down. Eames still has his hand over his eyes, blocking the light, when he feels Arthur's lips brush gently at his temple. "I told you you should have waited for me to do it."

"I'll make some adjustments, then," Yusuf concludes once Arthur stands up to go back to his notes.


---+1---

They're in the middle of a dreamscape, one level down, when the projections of the mark start to turn on everyone. Eames is extractor and they're lucky to have Ariadne with them as architect. It's just the three of them, and she and Arthur are relatively certain that they can hold off the projections until Eames gets all the information he needs. They're barricaded inside of the replica of the mark's restaurant, looking for a particular recipe. Some divorce settlement turned gruesome.

The first wave of projections start banging on the glass windows, trying to shatter them. Arthur and Ariadne are both standing ready with their guns.

"Eames! One minute!" Arthur shouts back calmly.

"Okay, okay! All right!" Eames replies, strolling out from the back room, going over the recipe another time.
At this moment, one aggravated projection is able to punch a hole in the glass and starts ripping it apart. Ariadne knocks out the first one in one shot like a pro. "Are you ready?" She asks over the sound of her gun.

Eames looks at them both, as well as the hordes of projections trying to get to them, and says "fuck it," pulling Arthur in for a long kiss. Arthur, unthinkingly, lowers his gun to melt into the kiss.

"Uh, guys! We gotta do this unless you want to be maimed by rabid projections! I'll go if you want me to go," Ariadne says, her eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

"No, no, let's go," Eames remarks, slightly breathless. He leans in for one more kiss and gives the hordes of projections the middle finger before pulling the barrel of Arthur's gun up toward him.