Everything hurts, and Arthur wants it all to stop. If only he knew how to put pain in a box.
On the bright side, he's lying in a soft, fluffy bed that is much nicer than the one in his apartment.
An incredibly warm hand rests on Arthur's back. "Darling?"
Arthur grunts.
Eames laughs softly. "Let me get you something for the pain."
"Eames?" Arthur breathes.
"Yes, darling?"
"The job?"
Eames leans down and presses his lips against Arthur's forehead. "Don't worry about that, love. Just rest."
Arthur would normally refuse, just to be a contrarian because it's Eames, but he is absolutely exhausted, so he snuggles into the warmth surrounding him. He falls back asleep before Eames returns.
~+~+~
When he wakes up again the pain is no better – but at least the fluffiness is still there, too. He blinks his eyes open and sees Eames sitting on the side of the bed.
"Hey," Eames whispers. "How do you feel?"
Arthur takes a deep breath. "Like crap."
Eames chuckles. "Here." He helps Arthur sit up and hands him some pills and a glass of water. Arthur swallows them without hesitation, then leans into Eames.
"Alright, darling?" Eames runs gentle fingers through Arthur's hair.
"Mhm. Tired." Arthur takes a deep breath and lets his Eames box slip open just the tiniest bit. "Knew you'd come."
Eames hums, the vibrations running through Arthur like a cat's purr, and Eames kisses Arthur's head. "Rest, love. You're safe."
Arthur does.
~+~+~
Arthur stays with Eames while he recovers. During that time, he sleeps more soundly than he ever has in his entire life, lying next to Eames' comforting warmth and listening to Eames' deep, steady breaths. During that time, he lets Eames touch him more, lets him invade his personal space almost every minute of the day. During that time, he lets himself trust Eames to always be there when he wakes up, when he stumbles while getting out of bed, when he's miserable from the pain or groggy from the drugs. During that time, he lets them fall into a steady, comforting rhythm.
During that time, he lets himself love Eames just a little more.
~+~+~
As Arthur heals, he repeatedly asks Eames about the job. Eames, being the stubborn, uncontrollable Forger that Arthur tried to hate for years, refuses to answer.
If he were completely healthy, Arthur reminds himself, he would force Eames to tell him, would confront him on his behavior. But he's not completely healthy, Arthur reassures himself, so it's alright that he just accepts it and moves on, that he lets Eames take care of him.
Arthur doesn't think about what he'll do when he's fully recovered. That's sitting in a box in the deepest recesses of his archives.
~+~+~
Cobb calls Arthur a few days later, the ringtone dragging Arthur from his sleep.
"What do you want?" Eames says.
YOU ARE READING
Something Special
FanfictionEveryone is born with a mark on their skin, a symbol of something significant to their soulmate. It could be anything from a word to a number to a shape. The difficulty is determining what the mark means, and Arthur thinks that's the stupidest part...
