Eames and Arthur – 50 Sentences Challenge

Love: It took Arthur far too long – in Eames' opinion – to actually admit he was in love with the forger to both himself and then the rest of the team, much to Dom's consternation, Yusuf's surprise and Ariadne's delight.

Hours: Minutes turned into hours for them, and no-one seemed to want to rouse Arthur and Eames from their shared dream, afraid of incurring the wrath of the pointman.

Light: Arthur prefers the lights to be out when they make love, and even though he's never told Eames why, the other man respects his wishes.

Valentine: It was almost a year since they first got together, and Arthur stumbled into work, late – possibly for the first time ever – to find Eames in his office, smiling, with a box of chocolates in one hand and a bunch of roses in the other, "happy valentine's day, darling." He smiles.

Hangover: Eames woke up with a pounding in his head and concern that he couldn't remember much of last night other than heated kisses, hurried fumblings and some of the best sex of his life with the team's snarky pointman.

Dance: The music was low and romantic, just as it should be for a wedding, and the couples danced slowly, calmly, the newlywed's joy washing over them all, especially Arthur and Eames, who were dancing near the middle of the dance floor, fingers intertwined.

Peace: The light breeze blows through the trees and the warm sun shines down on the couple sitting on the grass, enjoying their picnic.

Truth: Eames knows he'll never know everything about Arthur that the other man will never let him all the way in, even after all these years, and he knows that even if they fall in love, he will never have all of the truth.

Bath: Arthur really should know better than to go anywhere in the vicinity of Eames when the other man is taking a baht, because not only is the singing irritating, but if he enters the bathroom, he will end up dragged into the water with the forger, clothes and all.

Sick: Arthur is rarely sick, and he knows how to take care of himself if he is; but he can't say that the appearance of a certain forger on his doorstep the last few times he's caught whatever's going around has been unwelcome.

Sugar: Eames has a ridiculously low tolerance for sugar, as he has proved on numerous occasions, usually involving candy, Ariadne, her cheeky sense of humour and Arthur being left to calm him down again.

Coat: Arthur reaches for his coat, and finds that Eames is already there, holding it out for him to slip his arms into.

Taste: Right from the start when he saw him, Eames wondered what it would taste lie to run his tongue down Arthur's neck, across his collarbone and down his chest.

Storm: The thunder and lightening light up their world as heated bodies meet passionately, their breathing a counterpoint to the beating of the rain on the roof, steady, undeniable.

Wars: Both of them have seen enough wars in the dream sharing to know that neither of them ever wants to through something like that in reality.

Eyes: Eames once spent an entire afternoon in contemplation of Arthur's eyes before writing him a phenomenally sappy love poem about them.

Freedom: Even since before they actually had a relationship, Arthur had known that Eames liked his freedom, so it really shouldn't have hurt so much on the days he woke to find the forger gone.

Snow: Arthur is standing on the porch, cup of coffee in hand and subsequently doesn't see the icy handful of snow until it hits him squarely in the chest, courtesy of a cackling Eames.

Apple: It isn't until Eames brings a bog of them home in the grocery shopping one day that Arthur realizes he can't remember the last time he ate an apple.

Gentle: Despite the violence he shows in the dream – and sometimes real – world, Arthur is surprisingly gentle as he bandages Eames' wounds, telling him to be more careful next time, he can't stand losing him.

Master: Eames never thought he'd enjoy it, but after the first time having Arthur down on his hands and knees in front of him, gasping and begging and calling him master, he knew a new routine had emerged.

Once: there are only a few things Arthur would ever do once, and originally he thought sleeping with a co-worker was pretty high on the list.

Dream: Sometimes, Arthur feels like he doesn't really know Eames in the shared dream, because he's being so many people at once.

Roses: After discovering that Arthur is allergic to almost all kinds of pollen – wasn't that an amusing day – Eames finds out the only flowers he can bring his lover are roses; which he does, quite often in spectacular fashion.

Understand: It takes someone who has seen the stuff that they've seen and done the things that they've done to really understand what it was like; inception.

Focus: sometimes it annoys Eames when Arthur really gets into his research for a job and black everything out, sitting shoulders hunched at his desk, eyes running over the lines of text on his screen, never stopping to sleep or eat, and quite frankly, it scares Eames.

Never: "I'm never going to forgive you for this one, you stupid stick-in-the-mud prick," Eames stormed out, slamming the door and leaving Arthur in the hall, where he patiently waited for the best part of an hour before Eames came sulkily back asking for forgiveness.

Weakness: What Eames doesn't know is that for all of Arthur's uncaring attitude, his weakness is seeing Eames hurt and he would die for the other man, not something he would do for anyone else, including Dom.

Bite: Eames didn't know that Arthur was a biter, but after their first night together, he finds himself covered with hickeys and love bites, and Arthur gives him a shrug and an apologetic smile.

Night: It used to be Dom you would find at wherever their main base was late at night – usually a disused warehouse – but these days it was more likely to encounter Arthur and Eames, either with the former trying to drag the latter away from his work and into a dream, or them just making out on the sofa.

Hair: Eames really does not understand the amount of time Arthur manages to spend on his hair each morning, because ever Ariadne is faster, and she's a girl for goodness sake.

Chocolate: Eames it turns out, has a bit of a weakness for chocolate, especially the dark kind as Arthur finds out one rainy afternoon in the warehouse when Ariadne gives the forger some of hers, and Eames eats it piece by piece, eyes close and a smile on his face.

Comfortable: They're never more comfortable then when they're together and alone, perhaps not really doing anything, just leaning against each other and enjoying the nearness.

Listen: Sometimes it's hard for Eames to actually hear what's being said to him, unless it's being said in the deliciously soft voice, the words being whispered just for him, even if it's just 'go away mister Eames, I'm working.

Books: Arthur is surprised when he first enters Eames' apartment, because the place is full of books, stacked on shelves, piled on side tables and on occasion stacked neatly on the floor.

Mix: They're like the perfect combination, something so understandable that's its inexplicable how they just fit together so perfectly, as if they were always meant to be.

Wine: Eames is a terrible wine drunk, it only takes a small amount to have him completely plastered, and Arthur knows it, which is why at work-related events, everyone drinks champagne.

Blood: In real life, Eames has only seen Arthur bleed once, after he was shot, and he never wants to see the other man hurt again.

Oblivion: Arthur knows that in the lowest level of the dream, planting the final charges, Eames came incredibly close to dropping into limbo and never seeing him again, lost in the nothingness.

Flying: Eames isn't a fan of flying at the best of times, and the knowledge that he'll be under, in an incredibly complex dream state attended by an amateur, isn't exactly comforting, but for the fact that Arthur will be there.

Compassionate: Arthur isn't really known as the most compassionate person around, that job always fell to Ariadne and occasionally Cobb, so when the team watched in astonishment as Arthur held Phillipa while she cried after falling down instead of telling her to go find Cobb like he usually would, Ariadne wondered whose dream they were in.

Stuck: He knows he can't get out of this dream until the timer goes off without killing himself, or letting the projections get to him, and quite honestly neither will happened, he knows, because he's too well hidden, only Eames knows where he is, and the projections got him already, so all he can do is wait.

Pillow: When Arthur is woken at 3am by an overenthusiastic Eames, he is less than pleased and hits his lover with a pillow, mumbling, "I don't care if it's Christmas, you can wait until at least 9am," before going back to sleep.

Sparkle: There's something about the way Eames smiles at him, a little sparkle in his eyes perhaps, that first alerts Arthur to the fact that they could perhaps be going somewhere eventually.

Touch: Eames places his cool hand against Arthur's fevered cheek, hoping that even in his delirium, his partner can feel the touch, and Arthur leans his face against the cool flesh, mumbling something incoherent.

Kiss: The kisses they share vary so wildly that there is no way possible to pin down just one thing about them, other than it's something so special, so powerful, that even after years, each kiss still feels as magical as the first.

Thoughts: "penny for your thoughts, darling?" Eames asks, coming into Arthurs office area and placing a cup of coffee on his desk, sitting on the surfaces edge and grinning wolfishly when Arthur looks up and says simply, "I'm working Mr Eames, come back later," And returns to his laptop.

Sleep: Arthur had been working on his research for at least 30 hours straight, only stopping to get more coffee, or go to the bathroom, and Eames was sick of it, because he knew his partner would pass out from lack of sleep soon, and that was no fun at all.

Curse: Arthur looks up from where he's trying to feed a computer cable through the back of his desk, and hit his head on the underside of the table, eliciting a soft string of swearing, which causes Eames to raise his eyebrows in mock horror and say, "really Arthur, I am shocked at your language."

Forever: Part of the vow they made was forever, and they knew that even if they feel all the way into limbo, they meant every word of it.