Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the story idea and only some of the witty remarks. I own so little; so please don't steal.

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Perception

When Cobb comes back with Eames, Arthur scowls, but only for a moment. He is the Point Man and he must keep a professional face, even if certain members of their party won't. Dregging up past feuds is not going to solve past mistakes and anyway, he does not want to explain himself to anyone who doesn't already know. He shuffles his files on Fischer as Dom introduces Ariadne to Yusuf and Eames.

"Dom told me he'd gotten us a talented Architect, and you must be the beauty he was talking about?" Ariadne laughs and takes Eames's extended hand, shaking it as the stubbled British bastard switches on more of his charm. Just you wait, Arthur thinks ruefully to Ariadne, as if she can read thoughts besides creating dreamscapes, the more you know him, the more nasty you realize he is.

"He's the best Forger I know," Dom says, after noticing Arthur's dislike and inconspicuously making his way to him. "I know you and him don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but just deal with it for this one, okay?"

"I'm always polite," Arthur says pointedly, locking up the Fischer files in his briefcase. "Eames has always been the problem."

As Yusuf is showing Ariadne the sedatives as Saito and Dom watch, Eames finally glances around the room, his eyes settling on Arthur, who has been keeping his steely eyes on him. "We meet again," Eames says, sounding sarcastic and amused. "Did you miss me any, Arthur darling?"

"You only wish."

[=]

"Why don't you like Eames?"

Ariadne's training ends fifteen minutes before her next class. Dom still has things to work out with the other members, fine-tuning the details, and tells Arthur to walk Ariadne back to the college. Arthur knows the girl has much potential; she easily grasps building dreamscapes and within a day of meeting Dom, realizes the man's badly hidden emotional turmoil. He should not be surprised that she is perceptive enough to know when two members of her team are at each other's necks. "We don't get along," Arthur says curtly, hoping to end the conversation on the subject. He is willing to talk about anything else, but Ariadne doesn't seem to receive these vibes.

"Well, anyone can see that," she says, rolling her eyes. "But why don't you? Eames doesn't seem like a bad person."

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Dom has that wife of his for us to worry about. I'd like to know other things that may pose problems in the dream world." Arthur can't tell if Ariadne is trying to be efficient or nosy. He doesn't want to tell her anything, but figures if Dom can open up (slightly) about Mal to her, he can say a little bit.

"Eames is full of himself. He thinks he can get anyone to fall in love with him."

Ariadne stares at him, frowning a bit. They walk along in silence, and it isn't until they reach the bridge over the river when she suddenly bursts out laughing. "Really?" she chortles. "Eames tried to come on to you?"

"Is that a problem?" Arthur snaps, knowing it is unbecoming of him to be sharp to a lady, but Ariadne is not helping things as she rushes off, laughter spilling from her mouth and filling the air. "Don't bring it up with Eames!" he calls, and she just waves him off, humor spelled obviously across her face. Arthur doesn't remember being so cheeky at her age. He was a well behaved youth, and a stickler for details – something that made him the perfect Point Man for Dom, as well as the perfect target for Eames.

[=]

"Dear, we've only met each other for ten so minutes, and we're already in each other's dreams," Eames laughs, leaning across the bar and trying to make eye contact with Arthur, who is sitting and staring forward determinedly. This is the dream world of his making, for the test Dom wishes to give Eames. Eames is supposed to find and fool Dom into thinking he is a completely different person. Any skilled Forger should be able to do that much, and this is only a gauge of his powers.

"You're supposed to be finding Dom," Arthur spells out.

"You can't fool me; this is really a meet and greet, isn't it?" Eames looks around the dimly lit bar, chuckling all the while. "Getting to know each other in dreams, eh? And I saw you first and you distracted me."

Arthur decides to ignore him, a ploy that Eames grasps almost immediately. "Come now, Arthur. Are you still listening to your mother, not talking to strangers?" He turns into a voluptuous blonde, who sidles up to the clammed up Point Man and runs her fingers down his jaw line. "No? Well, maybe this isn't to your liking. How about this instead?" The blonde disappears, replaced by a buff bodybuilder. "You'd like this better, wouldn't you, Arthur?"

"Go find Dom."

"Are you always this standoffish to people you just meet?" Eames turns back into himself. "You'll never get laid this way." He reaches over and runs his fingers down Arthur's clenched jaw, not unlike the way his blonde self did so, and yet Arthur finds his heart suddenly racing. "Oh?"

Eames finds himself with Arthur's drink in his face and he laughs as the boy storms off. Arthur finds himself pulled from the dream by Dom, who says that Eames has passed the test and proven himself capable, and when Eames wakens, still laughing weakly from the dream, Arthur knows this may be the biggest mistake he's made as Dom's Point Man.

[=]

"Are you mad at me for kicking that chair out from under you?" Eames asks, driving Arthur back to his apartment after a day of scheming. Dom, who was Arthur's ride to the warehouse, claims to be running tests with Yusuf that Arthur does not dare question and will not be able to give him a ride home until late. Saito leaves early and Ariadne does not have a car. Eames volunteers (shifty bastard) after all options are exhausted, leering at him as they leave the parking lot. "You know we had to test the sedatives' powers and we had to give you those kicks to show Ariadne. We weren't teasing you or anything."

"Thank you for laughing all those times," Arthur mutters, staring darkly out into the shadowy streets. "I didn't see you offering yourself as a guinea pig for any of those kicks."

"Are you mad because I never caught you?" Eames whistles and lets out an obnoxious yell. "I promise you your knight in shining armor won't abandon you next time, love! Would you have preferred I swept you off your feet in front of the rest of the team?"

"I thought I could handle a twenty minute car ride home with you, but I guess I can't. Let me off here; I'll walk home."

"Alright, shutting up. Christ, you have no sense of humor."

[=]

Arthur wakes up first from Ariadne's practice dreamscape, blinking all forms of disorientation away from his mind. He extracts himself from the machine and looks around at the others. Namely, Eames; the man has a look of mischief on his face, as if he is lingering in the dreams just to play a joke. Setting his face to contempt, he leans over to sock the man in the face before he awakens, but the fist just doesn't quite make it; it dissolves halfway to the target and Arthur finds himself running his fingers down Eames's prickly chin. Bastard, with all his nicknames and manipulation.

"Taking advantage of another in their sleep is not gentlemanly of you," Eames says, sounding much more awake than Arthur believes him to be. He pulls his hand away, and just in time, because Dom and Ariadne open their eyes the next second. Eames cracks open his eyes and sees Arthur staring angrily at him.

"I really should have punched you."

[=]

Eames is really good at pretending to be someone he is not, but he isn't very sneaky. In fact, he can't do anything quietly; his whispers are loud, his voice is louder, and his tiptoes can scare anything away. Arthur knows Eames is following him home because he can hear the footfalls behind him. (That he can recognize the man by his footsteps is something Arthur wishes he didn't know about himself.) He figures he's safe as long as Eames follows and doesn't actually come into contact with him, until Arthur reaches into his pockets for his keys to put a door between him and his would-be stalker and finds it empty.

"Give me my keys, Eames."

"Keys?" Eames asks innocently, dangling a ring of them from his finger. He grins as Arthur turns to see him. "Honestly, honey, I expected you to call me out on it sooner; after all, I was the one to hand your coat to you."

"I keep disappointing myself, thinking you've changed all these years."

"Hmm, not entirely." Eames takes steps toward him, and Arthur retaliates with steps back until he finds his back against his door. He hears a hum of satisfaction in Eames's throat when the man closes the space between them. "After all, I still want you, don't I?"

"I'm afraid I don't follow. Keys, Eames."

"I always told Dom you had no imagination. Just doing everything by the book." Eames presses against him, and Arthur feels his erection through his pants as their lips meet. He hasn't kissed Eames in a (god-given) long time, and he never thought he missed the feeling. Eames was not someone he should get tangled up in; a gambler, a lady-killer, a heartbreaker, a conman, a thief, a lover, a loser. They have a flight scheduled tomorrow for the biggest case he's had so Eames should not be fumbling with the keys and letting himself in. He doesn't need to explain why he's walking funny and he doesn't want to see Ariadne's hysterical told-you-so face.

Too bad Eames has always been too damn persuasive.

Owari

[=]

Note: I saw this movie yesterday. And the moment these two started talking to each other, I couldn't even unsee this pairing. Why are you so badass, Eames? Movies making me write fanfictions…! Thanks for reading.