Rating: PG
Word Count: About 1500 maybe?
Warnings: None, really
Pairings or Characters: Arthur/Eames
Genre: fluff, drama
Summary: Some Arthur backstory, a Teenage!AU
Author's Note: This is basically a prequel to my other Inception fic, which can be found at my journal. It was written differently, because I needed it to set up some stuff that may happen in the to-be-written sequel. So yeah. I don't like it as much, but I like it enough to post, ya digg?

Arthur was a relatively normal sixteen year-old, as far as sixteen year-olds go. He liked hanging out with his friends, he liked playing video games, and he really liked sleep. He also really liked other boys, which was less normal but not really a problem. Luckily, his was the sort of school where no one really cared as long as he was honest about it. He had been teased all last year for being stuck in the closet, and when he finally came out it seemed like everyone let out a collective sigh of relief on his behalf, and then immediately went to tease the next gay freshman.

His close friends had already known he was gay, and boy, had that been one hell of a night. It had been the summer before high school, when himself, Eames, Dom, and Yusuf had all snuck out and went to Ariadne's house to make her hang out in her backyard with them. Eames, who had moved to America the previous year from England, had brought a full bottle of Irish whiskey, saying, "the Irish may be a bunch of stupid gits, but they do good alcohol."

It had been a celebration of sorts, since they were all going to the same high school and they wouldn't be split up like some other neighborhoods were. They had all gotten more than a little drunk, since it was the most alcohol any of them had ever had before and even though there were five of them it was a full bottle. Arthur had found himself spewing the strangest things, and then laughing hysterically. He didn't realize until two days later, with everyone in Eames' basement, that he had even said he was gay. Dom had to remind him, with a red face, that Arthur had collapsed into his lap and said that if Dom wasn't so obviously straight Arthur would kiss him, because Arthur was gay and wasn't that swell? Eames, who had ingested most of the whiskey, had burst out laughing because he didn't remember and said it was a good thing he wasn't sitting next to Arthur, or they would have had to excuse themselves from the rest of the group.

Yusuf asked what everyone was thinking. "Did you just come out to us?"

Eames was more focused on kicking the shit out of Dom at Halo, and nodded distractedly. Ariadne had said something about the odds that two out of the five were gay, and then the conversation was abandoned.

Anyway, a year and a half had passed, and they were all still close friends. And even though Arthur and Eames were closer than say, Arthur and Yusuf, they all genuinely liked spending time together.

Of course, they also had disagreements like any other friends would. There was a memorable month where Arthur refused to talk to Dom, because Dom had promised he'd take German with Arthur and Eames, and had taken French instead because he had developed a huge crush on Mal, the exchange student. It had blown over eventually, since Ariadne had agreed to take French with Dom and she had stubbornly refused to be affected by Arthur's guilt trip. Dom had eventually apologized for going back on his word, and Arthur had accepted the apology even if sometimes he would speak German with Eames in front of Dom, who was only passing French because it turned out Mal liked him back. (What wasn't to like? Dom was ridiculously good-looking.)

But back to the right now problems. Less than a minute ago, Arthur had realized he was in a serious case of like with Eames. That was a problem. That could ruin their friendship. Even if Eames liked him back, what if they started dating and then broke up? That would be awkward as fuck. And they wouldn't try to, but Ariadne and Dom and Yusuf would have to pick sides and then everything would really be all sorts of fucked up.

Arthur decided that he wasn't going to act on his case of like, he wouldn't tell anyone, and he would wait for it to pass.

This decision lasted exactly two minutes and twenty-six seconds, and then he was grabbing his jacket and shouting, "Ma, I'm going to Dom's, I'll be back before dark!" and pulling the front door shut behind him before she could yell at him.

Ariadne was at Dom's house, and they were watching some show where these guys hunted demons, or some shit like that. He burst into Dom's room, and said in a rush, "I have a crush on Eames."

Ariadne looked up uninterestedly, and Dom ignored him completely. Clearly they didn't understand that this was a huge problem.

"Okay."

Arthur furrowed his brow. "Ariadne, maybe you don't understand the complexity of the situation."

Dom shushed him, and Arthur saw the guy on the screen light some bones on fire.

"Dom, this is-"

Dom shushed him again, grabbed a remote to pause the show, and finally looked up. "Arthur, this is old news."

Arthur was shocked into silence.

Ariadne chirped in. "Yeah, you guys have liked each other for at least a year. I figured you both knew."

Arthur knew he was gaping in a most unattractive way, and finally manged to sputter out, "But I didn't- Wait, he? ... What?"

Dom motioned him to the chair in the corner of the room, and Arthur collapsed into it.

"Now shut up, so we can watch our show."

Arthur decided that if they didn't think it was a problem, he would trust them.

It really wasn't a problem though. Arthur was grateful that they had talked him out of his hysteria, even if they had acted very nonchalant about it.

Arthur did start noticing things about Eames though, and that could be extremely distracting. It took almost exactly two weeks from his epiphany for anything to happen though.

It was hard to focus on writing his paper for Psych when Eames had decided to come over to Arthur's house and write his Biology report on Arthur's carpet, lightly biting the tip of his pencil. All Arthur could think of was Eames' pouty lips and his intense eyes and his accent and Jesus Christ, is it really necessary to learn about Freud in Psychology class? Arthur sighed in quiet frustration, and then jumped when Eames took it as his cue to pop up from the carpet and peek at Arthur's paper. Arthur blushed and splayed his fingers over it, even though it was all appropriately related to psychology and nothing secret-worthy.

"Arthur pet, I reckon it might be time for a break," he said, grinning brightly.

Arthur sighed in a long-suffering way, even though a hint of a grin peeked through. "And just what do you suggest we do?"

"Well..." Eames slid his fingers to Arthur's bicep and pulled him so that they were standing almost nose-to-nose, though Eames was two or three inches taller than Arthur. "I had an idea, that I think you'd like."

Arthur, suddenly feeling a tiny bit light-headed, lifted his hands to Eames' sides, and smiled a little bigger when he felt the muscle jump under his palms. "Do you now?"

Eames, who had looked just a little nervous when he had pulled Arthur up, was now beaming, and slid his other hand to Arthur's cheek. "I was thinking-"

Athur had leaned a little closer, so Eames didn't get to finish his sentence, and instead he leaned forward and down a little more until their lips were touching. Arthur had about one second of "Holy shit, Eames is kissing me!" before he eagerly leaned into it. The first kiss only lasted a few seconds, but Arthur opened his eyes and Eames had the biggest grin on his face so he had to kiss Eames again.

Ten minutes later, Arthur was straddling Eames on Arthur's bed, and it was so very perfect because Eames felt good underneath him, real good, and he made the most interesting panting sounds. Arthur pulled away for a second to get his breath back, lips glistening and kiss swollen and looked down at Eames, smiling widely. Eames' eyes were hooded, he had a lazy grin on his face, and he was rubbing slow circles into Arthur's back where his hands had snuck under Arthur's shirt. Arthur leaned down, lightly nipped Eames' bottom lip, and said, "why did I ever think this was a bad idea?"

"Because even though you are quite intelligent, you sometimes lack the right imagination," Eames replied, puncuating every other word with a kiss.

Arthur decided that he had caught his breath and lowered his head again. They didn't separate until the door swung open and Yusuf loudly asked, "Is Ariadne here? She didn't answer her-" and then he burst into laughter as Arthur tried to jump guiltily off of Eames, who grabbed his hips and stopped him, grinning.

"Hey Yusuf," Arthur said, embarrassed.

More footsteps in the hallway, and then Dom burst in as well. "Yusuf, Ari is at-" and then he caught sight of Arthur and Eames and started roaring with laughter as well.

"Well if you don't mind, I was rather busy, so if you'd both kindly vacate the premises," Arthur said, faking irritation even though he was feeling really, really good right now.

Yusuf and Dom both left, their laughter still sounding from the hallway before it finally faded. Arthur looked down at Eames, who's eyes were sparkling with laughter, and asked, cautiously, "Is this- I mean, do you want this to be, uh, lasting?" He sounded about as nervous as he felt, and Eames picked up on it.

"Well, I was certainly planning so," Eames said seriously, and he looked unashamedly hopeful to Arthur.

"Awesome," Arthur replied, leaning down to kiss Eames' cheek and then quieting down when Eames caught his mouth again.

Oh yeah, he was feeling really, really good right now.