Eternal Starshine whilst we Dine

It was a placid, cool night with no wind. The stars were bright against the black backdrop of the night sky, and the moonlight glistened beautifully off the freshly fallen snow.

With a thicket of snow-covered trees behind him, Arthur stood next to a bench with his hands in his black, knee-length coat, his cheeks and nose red from the cold and his breath curled away in white wisps.

He checked at his watch and saw it was coming up to half past eight and replaced his hand back in his pocket. Thirty minutes ago he had received a phone call from Eames telling him to meet him here. Arthur knew he was trying to hide something because he was forcing his tone to come out even and flat but he had sounded so serious that he had to break away from his work and come find out why Eames needed to see him.

Arthur gazed around at his soft surroundings and smiled softly. The world, it seemed, was truly at peace.

"Penny for 'em." At the sound of Eames' voice, Arthur turned as Eames stepped out from the shadows of the trees and walked towards him, firing a grin of pure charm as his breath hit with air and coiled off.

Eames was also clad in a black thick coat but he was bundled in black gloves, black scarf and a hat which was being held down my black fluffy earmuffs.

"Sorry, but they are worth so much more." Arthur tried to give Eames a stern look but failed because he always smiled automatically when Eames was around.

"I'll pay anyway."

Eames encompassed Arthur in his arms and when he pulled back a small smile twitched at Arthur's lips. "Nice touch," he said, indicting to the earmuffs with his chin.

"Don't mock. I lived in hot climates for years so I'm freezing my bollocks off right now."

Eames gave an exaggerated shudder and smiled. His lips were plump and red from the cold, like overripe strawberries.

"So, why the urgency? And you better have a decent reason otherwise-"

"Actually, I do." Eames stepped out of their embrace and hooked his arm around Arthur's shoulders and he guided him down path that weaved through trees. The fallen, frosted leaves and snow crunched beneath them.

"You, my dearest darling, have been working so hard for days, so much so that not only do you have a new set of frown lines appearing on your face, but you have totally screwed up your circadian rhythms, which means the only time we have seen each other is when one of us is on their way home to bed."

Arthur tilted his head in agreement. He couldn't recall the last time he and Eames spent more than an hour together in the past eleven days.

"So, I had this silly idea, you know, since we are a couple, and I thought we could spend some time together."

They emerged from the woods and Arthur stopped, captivated by the view. Spread before him was the vast, frozen surface of a lake. Its surface was black and glittering in the moonlight. Surrounding it was mixture leafless trees and tall, spiky evergreens that had been dusted with snow. There was no movement or noise. It was as if this place had been suspended in time.

"So," Eames made ta-dahh gesture with this hands, "What do you think?"

Arthur swiped his eyes over the sight again and looked back at it Eames. "It's lovely."

Eames beamed. "Come on then." He started walked towards the lake and Arthur followed.

"Eames, if you think I am walking all the way-"

"No, nothing like that. Course not," Eames said. They stopped at the edge of the lake and Eames glanced out on to the mass of ice. "Look at it. It's massive. I wouldn't put you through that. Well, maybe…but not tonight."

"Then what is going on?"

"Look, just go with it. Okay?"

Eames then walked straight ahead and out on to the ice but stopped after about ten metres when he realised Arthur wasn't following him.

He turned around and saw Arthur was still stood at the edge of the frozen lake.

"Come on!" Eames' voice echoed slightly.

"You are not serious?"

"Perfectly serious. Now, come on."

"I'm not ice-skating."

"Good. Neither am I."

"What if it breaks? Have you thought about that?"

"Then we go to our watery graves. Arthur, come on! It's fine. It's really solid. Look." Eames smashed his right foot down on to the ice a few times. "See, it's fine."

Arthur was still unconvinced. Eames outstretched his hand and gestured to Arthur with his fingers.

"Just come here." Eames fluttered his fingers again. "Please."

Arthur gave a sigh of resignation and gingerly stepped on to the ice that cracked beneath him. He walked towards Eames cautiously, his black shiny shoes slipping slightly.

He removed his hand from his pocket and the cold stung his fingers as the laced through Eames' fingers. They set off and after a few minutes, Eames started to slide his feet.

"Careful, don't slip," Eames said playfully, nudging Arthur with his shoulder whilst gliding on the ice.

"Eames," warned Arthur, but Eames, giggling, just made his sliding strides longer and quicker, pulling Arthur along with him. "Stop it. Eames!"

Eames smirked and he began to skate quicker, slipping his feet over the ice as Arthur was taking many tiny steps.

"If you fall-"

Eames' shoes suddenly skidded in the opposite direction and he slipped on to his back, yanking Arthur with him.

Pain jolted through him but Eames exploded into hissy chuckles as Arthur slammed down on to the ice.

"Damn it." Arthur stretched his throbbing spine and shoulders. He removed his hand from Eames' grasp and rotated his wrist a couple of times.

Eames was still laughing. Arthur turned his head and looked at him with narrow eyes. "You think that was funny?"

Eames laughed harder but it faded into trembling lips as his slate-blue eyes found Arthur's dark orbs in the dark. Arthur soften his eyes. Their warm breath was tickling each others cheeks and white smoke emitted from their mouths around curled their faces.

A sharp, snapping sound made Arthur jolt up.

"Was that a crack?"

Eames groaned.

"The lake is not going to crack," he said, pushing himself up. "It's not going to break. It's fine."

They carefully helped each other to their feet.

"Come on, bit further to go," Eames said and he picked up Arthur's hand and held it, trying to infuse warmth into Arthur's thin fingers."

"No more sliding."

Eames dipped his head and buried a smirk beneath his scarf.

They steadily carried on walking across the ice, only slipping by accident every so often.

After five minutes Arthur could make out a dark shape up ahead and when they reached it, Arthur saw that it was a large, thick tartan blanket. On it were two bowls with glistening silver soup spoons placed in them and a tall, silver drink canister.

Arthur looked at Eames, his face blank.

"You've done this?"

"Obviously," Eames stated and settled himself down on the blanket opposite one of the bowls and crossed his legs.

"You brought me all the way out here…for food?"

"Yeah."

Arthur stared down at him, his face expressionless. "You are unbelievable."

Eames brought his curled fingers to his plump lips and considered Arthur. "That good or bad?"

"It's good," replied Arthur. He sat down opposite Eames. "This time, it's good."

Eames' face creased into a smile and he picked the canister, unscrewed the top and sniffed as the steam blew up in his face.

He poured a thick, dark liquid into Arthur's bowl.

"Your favourite soup, from your favourite place."

He then filled his own bowl as Arthur dipped his spoon in to the hot liquid and took his first taste of the soup. It was thick and creamy and the warmth coursed all the way through his body.

Eames' gaze alternated between his soup and Arthur.

Arthur kept his eyes down on the soup after catching Eames' eye a couple of times and they ate in appreciative silence for a few minutes.

"Eames," said Arthur gently, "You didn't have create such a grand gesture." He glanced up at Eames who looked like he was sucking on a silver lollipop. "You could have just asked if you wanted to spend time together."

Eames gazed back at Arthur for a few moments and slowly removed the spoon from his mouth and asked carefully, "Do you not like this?"

"Actually...I do…this is…" Arthur faded off and looked around the world Eames had brought him to. Everything was so white, so smooth and soft and the large surface of the ice glimmered in the moonlight. "I never knew that frozen water could…"

Eames suppressed a beaming smile.

"You know, that in itself is the biggest compliment," he said, pointing his spoon at Arthur before dipping it back into the soup and taking another swallow.

"What?"

"The man who appears to have the answer to everything is unable to speak coherently. I quite like it."

"You should enjoy it while it lasts."

"Oh, I shall."

They smiled at each other and spooned up the final few mouthfuls of their soup. Arthur gently placed the bowl and spoon on the ice as Eames half-tossed his bowl down with the spoon clattering in it.

Arthur leaned over for a quick kiss and met Eames' mouth on its way to his.

"Thank you." He gave Eames a few more short kisses, which kept getting a little longer each time their lips met but Arthur eventually pulled back.

After a few quiet seconds, Eames smiled softly and gently said, "Lie down with me."

Arthur looked at him in disbelief. "What?"

"Lie down. With me."

Arthur kept his look of incredulity but moved himself over to Eames' left side.

Eames uncoiled his long legs and laid back on to the blanket, folding his hands behind his head. Arthur settled down besides him.

Arthur inhaled deeply and cold air tingled his lungs and when he released the air from his lungs, his warm breath curled away and gave the illusion that it was swirling amongst the stars. He was totally enraptured. He had thought the shimmering lake was beautiful but the night sky was spectacular.

It was like he was standing on the edge of the universe and he felt it was wrapping itself around him to stop him falling off. The twinkling lights set against black velvet was slowly folding itself around him and it scooped him up as he became a part of its hugeness. It felt like all his worries had floated away and that no harm could touch him so long as he was lost in the vastness of the majestic sky.

They stayed silent, staring up at the stars for what felt like eternity but a small shiver eventually broke Arthur out of his enchantment. He glanced at Eames and saw that he had shut his eyes. He smiled and reached over to pick up the far corner of the large blanket, which he then pulled over and draped over them both.

Arthur turned his head to stare at Eames and a few seconds later, Eames' lips coiled up in to a smirk.

"You're looking at me."

It was Arthur's turn to smirk. "How could you possibly know that?"

Eames' smirk morphed into a grin.

"You want the logical answer or the truth?"

Arthur continued looking at Eames.

"I'm intrigued. Can I have both?"

Eames shrugged slightly. He kept his eyes closed.

"Okay. Logical answer; we're in a new phase of interaction, our social has become our sexual. So, it is natural that we would take any opportunity to check each other out, particularly when we think the other person is unaware of this, ergo, you were looking at me." Eames' grin widened . "Just as I look at you whenever I think you are not looking."

"And the other answer?"

Arthur watched the smile melt off Eames' face as it became pensive. His eyebrows knitted together.

"The Truth. Hmmn." Eames stayed silent for a few long moments. "Well, the truth is that when you look at me the hairs on the back of my neck tingle."

"Ah, neck hair tingling," said Arthur with amusement infecting his voice. "Sounds serious."

Eames let out a little laugh through his teeth.

"It is. It's very serious. But I can live with it."

When Arthur didn't respond, Eames cracked open his eyes. He looked over to Arthur whose lips parted into a small smile and he said, "I suppose I'll have to live with it too."

Neither of them spoke again for the longest time. They just stayed huddled together in their own private, precious bubble and lost themselves in space.

Prompt: Picnic at night on a frozen lake, like in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

I'm a soppy sod at heart. :) I had that song from Notting Hill playing over and over as I finished this off 4GS. Anyway I wanted to write this because I made a crossover vid with A/E and ESotSM an age ago and I wanted to do something wintery *squee* I love winter. I didn't really plan to do this, I have 3 stories more to go and I am going to finish with the Holidays :( because all good fandoms... but it will end happily. Promise. :D And just something else... it has been an absolute pleasure to write, I love it and I have LOVED reading everyone elses stories.

Anyway, as always, thank you for reading. T xx

Disclaimer: Yeah... I still don't own Inception... or Eternal Sunshine for that matter.