Soulmate!AU - everyone has superpowers, but when soulmates are together their powers are nullified by each other.
Working It Out
Arthur bit back a yawn and extended his hearing, wondering if Dom was going to be back any time soon. Half a mile away the only notable sound was the click of a camera as tourists took pictures of the Chicago skyline two blocks down and the sound of a man approaching, letting himself into the warehouse. Not Dom, or certainly not Dom's breathing patterns, however.
The closer the man drew, the quieter his footsteps became. At first Arthur thought it might have been his power - some kind of ability to walk or move silently. But the man was humming to himself, obviously not trying to be quiet.
"Who are you?" Arthur snapped, annoyed by the mystery interruption and he turned to face the intruder.
The man jumped nearly a foot into the air and stared at Arthur, jaw gaping.
"Are you a robot?" he asked, clutching at his chest as if Arthur had given him the fright of his life. Arthur had been sitting in the middle of the warehouse they were working from, waiting for both the architect and the forger to turn up. This was likely the forger, going by Dom's description of him.
"No," Arthur said, mildly offended. He turned back to his research, determined to ignore the other man.
To his utmost shock and horror, the man manage to sneak up upon him and poke him in the side. Arthur reacted instinctively; that is to say, he growled, drew his gun, and shot the space the other man had been occupying half a heartbeat ago.
Neither Arthur nor Eames made a good impression upon the other.
Unfortunately, Eames was the forger they'd been waiting for, and they had to work together.
Eames, it seemed, had recovered quickly from his near death ordeal.
"Darling!" he called as he entered the warehouse at the entirely unacceptable time of 10.05. Arthur had specified that they were to be meeting at 10.00 and had expected the entire team to be fifteen minutes early. They were not.
Again, Eames was strangely quiet. Arthur, a man who could hear the sound of a gunshot from the other side of a city the size of Chicago and identify the type of gun within seconds, could not even hear Eames' heartbeat from across the room.
"Are you wearing a tinfoil hat beneath that slicked back do?" Eames asked.
Arthur stared at him. "What?" he said, then held up his hand. "Stop. I don't want to know. You're late, Eames."
Eames snorted. "I'm early compared to Dom and Alexus."
In Arthur's mind, that was beside the point.
Toward the end of a day filled with unproductive bickering and little else, Dom took him aside.
Despite the fact that Arthur knew that Dom had the power to imbue a sense of trust in anyone that he spoke with, he allowed the man to speak. Dom would never abuse his ability.
"What's going on with you and Eames?" Dom said.
Arthur wanted to throw his hands into the air. "He's infuriating. He's rude and lazy and I can't hear a single thing he does!"
Dom's brow creased. "You can't hear him? As in, your power doesn't affect him?"
"Yes! No!" Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose, staring down at the floor. "Maybe. He's not my soulmate Dom, don't even say it."
After a long pause, Arthur looked up.
Dom narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Not your soulmate, hm? Are you sure?"
Arthur wasn't sure. "Shit," he said.
Dom patted Arthur on the shoulder. "I'm sure it will work out."
Eames came in the next day looking extraordinarily smug.
"It's funny, you know," Eames said when Dom had gone for lunch break and Alexus had joined him after glancing at the two of them and blanching.
"Nothing's funny," Arthur snapped. He wondered if he could get away with drawing his gun and shooting Eames by 'accident'.
"I can't hear you either, darling."
Arthur froze. He did drew his gun, happy to have it's reassuring weight in his hand. Maybe he'd just accept that no one would believe it had been an accident and shoot the man anyway.
"Explain," he growled.
Eames eyed the gun with wary disdain. "Cobb didn't tell me, you little twit. I read his mind. Just like I can read Alexus' mind, and every single other person's in a three mile radius."
Arthur's jaw dropped. He thought he might be sick. The idea of someone intruding on his thoughts like that...
"Apart from yours," Eames said with a scowl. "Although I wish I could, because you're bloody infuriating."
Arthur felt as if he could breathe again. He reholstered his gun.
"You're bloody infuriating," Arthur replied upon a childish whim.
Eames arched a single eyebrow. It was an attractive look on him, one that Arthur had been trying to ignore.
"Fuck you, Eames," Arthur growled and drew the other man close for a kiss.
"Maybe in ten minutes," Eames answered, mumbling against Arthur's lips just loud enough for him to hear.
Arthur smiled.
Word Count: 843
Romance Awareness Day 7 - Everyone has superpowers, but when soulmates are together their powers are nullified by each other.