Eames hopped out of the taxi, roughly grabbing his bags, before standing infront of the hotel the team had agreed on. From what he could see it looked posh, well posher than what he preferred at least. He never felt comfortable in overpriced hotels and being served by ridiculously condescending staff, but Dom had insisted they all stayed in the same hotel, so after flying straight from Mombasa, here he was.
Strolling into the large, shiny new lobby he confirmed the place was indeed very posh, filled with wealthy looking people. Making a bee-line for the Reception desk to join the short line of people checking in, he smirked as he recognised the figure standing at the end of the queue.
"Fancy meeting you here, darling." He couldn't hide the smile at Arthur's reaction.
It would've been impossible to sneak up on him considering the floor echoed every step he took throughout the room, but it didn't stop Arthur jumping round in surprise as Eames spoke up from behind him.
"Mr Eames." Arthur greeted in return, the shock on his face was quickly replaced with a painfully netural expression and a raised eyebrow. "You're on time."
"Ah, you're always the one to have faith in me, Mr Arthur." Eames drawled sarcastically while shifting his bags so he now stood beside Arthur in the queue. They stood in a silence that neither of them was willing to break and instead, they both watched the aged, moody looking female receptionist argue with the family in front of them. Eames let out a long sigh, realising they could be waiting for a while.
"Have the rest of the team arrived yet?" He glanced at Arthur who was also starting to look irritated, whether it was at the scene infront of them or Eames' presence beside him, while said man was indiscreetly trying to sneak infront of him in the line, Eames didn't know. Maybe both, he concluded.
"I'm not sure." Arthur answered, momentarily flicking his eyes in Eames direction before returning them to the family who were slowly losing the argument. "We can check afterwards, the rooms we booked are all beside each other anyways."
Eames tensed. "You all...pre-booked your rooms?"
This time Arthurs intense stare fixed on Eames as he darkly muttered, "You didn't book your room?" Arthur's eye was practically twitching with annoyance now, much to Eames' amusement. "Eames there's a bloody festival in the city all this week, everywhere will be booked out by now. I sent you all an email weeks ago telling you what rooms to book!"
Eames vaguely remembered opening the email and scribbling down a reminder about something to do with hotel rooms, and had clearly left it somewhere where he never found it again. "Guess I never got it", he shrugged turning away from Arthur, whose glare only intensified. Of course he knew Eames' was lieing through his teeth; Arthur knew everything.
"Don't worry about me, Mr Arthur," His voice holding mild annoyance, "Your underestimating me again." His eyes focused on the receptionist again as a plan began to form in his head. A small smile played on his lips.
"What, you're planning to try and charm her into giving you a room?" Arthur's eyebrow raised, his voice sounding a cross between incredulous and highly amused.
So apparently the point man was able to read people's minds too, Eames thought. 'Because Arthur knows everything' his mind mocked in a childish voice. But before he had time to insult Arthur in return, the receptionist snapped 'Next!' in their direction.
Arthur moved to pick up his bag and step forward, but before he could, Eames swooped in ahead of him to the front of the line with a "Can't keep her waiting, Arthur."
Eames could've sworn he heard Arthur uncharacteristically curse after him and could feel a glare boring holes into the back of his head. He knew the man would find a way to get him back for that one later, but for now he chose to smirk and ignore it. Now standing infront of the receptionist, who was typing hastily into her computer- her eyes not lifting from the screen- he began. "Any chance of booking a room for one, darling?"
"No." Eames faltered a bit at the blunt reply, the charming smile dropping clean of his face. The woman's eyes glanced disapproving at him before returning to the screen. "We've been booked out for weeks. You'll have to look elsewhere." The sour expression never left her face as the words were muttered half heartedly without hesitation.
"Next!" she yelled, managing to signal to Arthur without tearing her eyes from the screen.
Eames felt Arthur approach the desk and stand beside him. He didn't need to look to know the man was proudly smirking, overly enjoying his rejection. Arthur was already handing over his papers to the receptionist, who was now completely ignoring Eames' presence.
"Oh well that's unfortunate..." Eames interrupted the transaction, dragging the woman's attention back to him. He was refusing to give up easily, Arthur would get too much satisfaction out of that, and an ego boost was the last thing that man needed. "I've been having an awful amount of bad luck recently!" He sighed over dramatically while Arthur rolled his eyes beside him. "Is there really no cancellations you could give to me?" Eames was now leaning on the desk, closer to the woman frozen behind it who was finally making eye contact. "You have no idea how grateful I'd be...", his voice murmured softly, practically dripping with lust, as a promising, flirtatious smirk played on his lips.
The woman stared back at him, shocked, with a faint blush growing on her cheeks. Arthur's quite mutter of 'Oh dear god Eames, there's children around.' was expertly ignored.
Eames smile widened encouragingly as the woman's hands reached uncertainly back to the keyboard, as his intense gaze held never left the woman as she glanced back and forth between him and the computer. Eames could nearly taste success, until-
Ring!... Ring!
The shrill sound from the phone sitting beside her seemed to break some sort of trace, causing her to jump and grab desperately for it, her blush deepening as she moved to the far end of the desk, apologising "Sorry sir, there's really nothing I can do." As she lifted the phone- now out of ear shot- the movement gave Arthur and Eames a clear view of her left hand. More importantly, the movement drew their attention to the thick, gold wedding ring gracing her finger.
The awkward silence that ensured was broken by Arthur, who was clearly having trouble holding back a smile that threatened to break his usual stoic expression. "Oh, well that's unfortunate!" Eames felt his pride suffer a slow and painful death. He growled lowly under his breath.
"That's bound to be a new low, even for you." Eames was positive Arthur's tone couldn't sound any more condescending if he tried. He didn't bother to glare back at him as he moved, ready to step out of the line.
"Are you both travelling together?" Eames turned in time to see the receptionist put down the phone and gesture between him and Arthur, "Because the rooms are actually very large... and they do have double beds."
Eames was ready to laugh at the very idea, until he noticed Arthur freeze and attempt to quickly turn down the suggestion, that is. So, never missing an opportunity, he cut the man off.
"Now that's interesting! Isn't it darling?" The Point man who was no longer smiling, but rather looking extremely pissed off at the playful tone.
"No Eames." Arthur replied seriously, his brow furrowing. "I don't share rooms. You can bunk with Cobb or something, but I need to work!" The warning that flashed in Arthur's eyes was ignored.
"You said that the rest of the team might not even be here yet", Eames countered challengingly. He could tell Arthur thought he was taking this too far, and the man was probably right. Hell, he could be putting the entire job at risk if he intervened with the Point Man's work, but Eames was always one to act on impulse. He could rarely pass up an opportunity to aggravate Arthur to extremes. Besides, it was too late now any ways; Eames had offered up a challenge, and Arthur never turns down a challenge.
"I need somewhere to stay, Arthur." Eames reinforced seriously as he noticed the Point Man was fighting with himself, the man clearly did not want to do this, but was torn between not backing down from a challenge and risking the success of a job.
Eames hid his smile of success as he noticed Arthur's shoulders drop as he sighed in defeat.
"Fine." The man snapped, finally accepting the room keys from the receptionist, muttering a quiet 'Thanks', before he stormed off in the opposite direction, towards the lifts that led to the hotel rooms.
Eames, silently revelling in his on victory, turned to follow the man before he heard the receptionist call him back. Keeping a close eye on Arthur to ensure the man didn't rush off and lock him out of a room he didn't even know the number of, Eames returned to the receptionist, praying the woman wasn't expecting him to apologise for earlier.
The woman had returned to typing busily into the computer and not glancing up from the screen. "I'm free later." She said bluntly.
Eames visibly paled.
After a quick 'Maybe another time', Eames had winked at the receptionist before rushing after Arthur who he had noticed was now stepping into a lift and calmly pressing the 'Close Door' button. He swore, speeding up his pace, barely reaching reaching the lift in time to stop the door from closing shut with his hand.
As the door automatically slid open again, he met Arthur's blank stare with a raised eyebrow. Arthur shrugged.
"Sorry, must have pressed the wrong button."
Eames sighed, nodding and slightly puffed out, as he stepped into the lift and stood beside Arthur. He noticed Arthur's hand quickly move away from the button he had been pressing profusely mere moments ago, it just so happened to be the 'Close Door' button.
Eames was finally accepting that he had made a mistake. A big, big mistake. He had just volunteered himself to live in the same room- for what could be weeks- with this man. The same man whose guts he hated, and the same man who hated his guts.
"Don't worry, love", genuinely surprised he had managed to keep the bitterness out of his voice, "Happens all the time."
Hey guys! Well this is my first attempt at a fic, hopefully it's alright! Emm so could let me know what you think, pretty please?