A.N: So, I'm having these persistently bad days. I somehow developed chest wall inflammation and have spent the last few days in ridiculous pain. But I promised myself that I'd write this and try to feel better- I cried in bed and thought of really stupid things, like: that water spot on the ceiling looks like a butterfly, why can't Arthur come and fix me with his watercrafting? So, here is the chapter born of my aggravation and need for someone to be happy; mainly, Arthur and Eames, because this is one of the scenes I thought of in the very beginning for them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inception or the Codex Alera.

They were practicing their crafting on the warehouse roof.

When Ariadne had raised the perfectly valid 'but what if someone sees us?' argument, Cobb had assured her that Yusuf would have them covered.

They got to the roof, only to find that the perimeter had been covered with plants and flowers.

Yusuf was examining a few of them; eyeing the wilting blooms, tutting to himself over a shrub with browning leaves.

"This was the best you could do, Arthur?"

The point man raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. "It was short notice- I raided a few discount plant shops and got the weirdest looks when I brought it all back to the warehouse. I've provided you with an excellent working environment- your woodcrafting will not be affected by the metal present within the building."

"Woodcrafting?" Ariadne couldn't help but ask, already feeling like every other word out of her mouth was a damned question. She didn't like the way that it made her feel and sound; like she was a child or silly or not quick on the uptake.

Yusuf, who had been very kind during their first meeting, turned to her with a wide smile.

"Woodcrafting is amazing," Yusuf assured her, as if he didn't get enough chances to extol that particular crafting's greatness.

Eames snorted, tried to cover it up with a cough, but still drew Yusuf's attention.

"Comments?" Yusuf asked. "Concerns? Woodcrafting is wonderful, full stop."

The forger rolled one shoulder in a shrug, fluid and unconcerned. "I've got some woodcrafting, Yusuf. You don't need to give me the speech."

"You might have to give me that talk," added Arthur before moving towards the edge of rooftop and the neat line of flowers and plants. "I just don't see it."

The chemist narrowed his eyes. Ariadne wasn't sure how she could tell, but there was this shiver in the air, this feeling she couldn't quite describe. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the small tree with thin fragile looking branches began to move on its own, reaching out to the point man. The distance was short, but surely he could hear the rustling of the leaves to his left?

She was going to speak when she caught sight of Eames moving a bit closer, eyeing the plant but keeping quiet.

"Plants," Arthur was saying, as if he didn't notice the restless tree nearest to him. "Never really had much of an affinity to plants. During the summer back home, I'd have to spend hours in the garden doing the yard work."

The tree's branches were an inch or so away from grasping Arthur's left wrist. That was the moment Eames acted.

"On your left, darling!"

As if he'd been aware of it all along, Arthur spun on his heel and called out to his wind fury to draw on its speed. The point man dodged the questing tree's branches but was snared by a nearby flower bush.

Arthur growled and finally called his fury by name.

"Come on," he said glaring at the offensive plant life twining around his ankle, snaking up his other arm to restrain him. "Here, Spot!"

The wind wolf manifested immediately, approaching with his head lowered, teeth exposed, attempting to put the fear of Arthur into the plants that held the point man.

"Good boy," Arthur said with a smile, his smile as wide as the wolf's. "Are you ready? Want to try your new trick?"

Ariadne looked over at Eames, gauging his response. The forger was smiling as well, admiring the large wolf bonded to Arthur.

"Admit that woodcrafting is as important as the other forms of crafting."

The point man, still bound up with living plants, shrugged in the chemist's direction. "I would prefer not to."

Then, Arthur returned his attention to the wolf and said, "Spot, speak!"

The wind fury began to howl; it was like the noise the wind made on a terribly stormy night. If they were near windows, Arthur's fury would have shaken the glass in the panes.

Ariadne noticed something odd. Her hair was being lifted up into the air. There was a zinging electrical charge in the air, getting stronger and stronger as the air tightened around them.

But, before the standoff between Arthur and Yusuf could get dangerous, Cobb stepped in.

"I never thought I'd have to say this," the extractor said, a shade disappointed. "Arthur, I will not be happy if you accidentally electrocute the team."

Ariadne watched, open-mouthed, her fingers attempting to smooth out her staticky hair. She looked to Eames for an explanation.

"He can call the lightning?!"

"Hey, you can't be Arthur's groupie," Eames said, eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm the head of his fan club and I'm not accepting new members."

Arthur was smirking to himself, unable to stop his laughter. After praising his fury for a job well done, the wolf was dismissed.

"I wasn't going to shock Yusuf. That would be childish. Almost as childish as making a bunch of half-dead plants grope me."

Yusuf immediately blushed. "As if I'd do that!"

The point man shrugged and brushed himself off. "The tree's branches kind of, um, how would I say it?" He nodded to himself. "Yeah, they stroked my pulse point before gripping nice and tight."

"My," Eames said thoughtfully, using one hand to fan himself. "That's a bit steamy, Yusuf. But no matter how much your wood fury likes Arthur, I'm not letting you into the club, either."

Cobb looked exasperated, shaking his head and turning his eyes skyward as if he were about to softly ask, 'Why me?'

"Stop talking about your Arthur fan club," he said and pointed at Eames.

"Stop claiming that Yusuf's fury is trying to harass you," he said and pointed at Arthur.

"Stop getting defensive about your furycrafting!" Cobb finally said, pointing at Yusuf, too. "I've hired all of you because you're the best in the field. We didn't come up here to have a bitchy contest about who's the best at what!"

Yusuf straightened his lap coat and nodded. "Right. You're right." He looked to Arthur and apologized. "I'm sorry. I just hear a lot about how good you are at watercrafting, or aircrafting, or earthcrafting. I got jealous."

Stepping away from the plants along the edge of the rooftop, Arthur reached out to shake the chemist's hand. Once, twice- a nice firm handshake.

"It's okay, Yusuf. I can understand. You may not have as many furies as I do, but your wood fury is quite impressive."

Eames snorted and didn't bother hiding it. "Oh, I see what you did there, darling."

Ariadne frowned, looking between the three men and then shooting a glance at Cobb, who had once again covered his eyes with one hand.

"What did I miss?"

The forger leaned in closer to her, speaking softly. "You see, Yusuf has this terrible fear of inadequacy when he works with crafters of greater skill."

She raised her eyebrows. She was getting it. "That's nice and immature."

Eames rolled his eyes. "The man's greatest skill is wood- someone's going to make the jokes, it's best to get this out of the way. And if Arthur can give our chemist an ego boost, who's going to get hurt?"

The forger cleared his throat and jumped into the conversation. "The way I see it, Yusuf has great skills in woodcrafting. I have fair skills in woodcrafting. And you, darling Arthur have none." He frowned and pretended to think about that. "Oh, my poor darling."

Before Arthur could answer, Cobb jumped in once more. "I get it, super suggestive humor involving the double meaning of the word wood. It's time for you to put your woodcrafting to good work, Yusuf."

The chemist nodded, holding back a small smile as he closed his eyes and called to his wood fury.

The shadows cast by the large bushes began to stretch across the roof. The trees laced their branches together to create a screen. Looking below her feet, Ariadne noticed that the roof had been covered in a fair amount of leaf litter, grasses, and other plant material.

When Eames caught her looking at the ground, he gestured to the open sky. "A woodcrafter's best friend is living and dead plants. They can use the materials for camouflage- with all of the stuff on the edge of the roof we've reduced the visibility from other rooftops. The materials on the floor helps hide us from up above."

Ariadne was impressed. She watched as Yusuf opened his eyes and then examined his handiwork. Satisfied, the chemist moved to an open structure, more like a modified storage closet, mentioning as he walked, "I'd better get back to work on the compound. Give me a call if you need me!"

With Saito still resting downstairs and Yusuf working in his less restrictive environment on the roof, it left the remaining team members an excellent chance to plan and work on their crafting.

"Arthur has told me that you've plenty of skill but not much experience with your earthcrafting. In dreamshare, it's possible to utilize your elemental skills, but things work much more smoothly when you've developed some muscle-memory. Today, we're just going to practice some basic crafting. Arthur and Eames will serve as an example."

After having removed their jackets and weapons, the two dream criminals faced each other at the center of the roof with Cobb and Ariadne watching from a safe distance on the improvised sideline.

"The rules are no blood, no broken bones, and no accidentally throwing anyone off the roof."

Arthur and Eames nodded and fell into a relaxed stance, eyeing each other, waiting for a signal.

"Begin!" Cobb called to them.

For a moment neither man moved.

"What?" Eames asked, amused and relaxed as he watched the point man. "Nervous, darling?"

"Less talking and more eating the floor, Mr. Eames."

Before Eames could say something in response, Arthur was just a well-dressed blur that rushed towards him, his aircrafted speed giving him an advantage. Eames had been struck across the face and thrown to the ground within half-a second. The impact was sudden and hard.

Arthur, no longer moving with terrifying speed, had sat himself down on Eames chest, pinning the man to the ground. Not a hair was out of place and barely breathing hard, Arthur offered a dimpled grin to the man he had just taken down.

"Oh," he said, using two fingers to gently tip Eames's face to one side and looking at the mark on his face. "I made sure to use an open hand, but I'm pretty sure this is going to bruise."

"Kiss it better?" Eames said as he blinked up at Arthur, moving his previously limp hands off of the roof's floor and settling them against the point man's hips.

Arthur smirked and leaned in to press a very soft kiss against the mark he'd left on Eames's face. Being so close, Arthur could hear Eames very clearly when he spoke.

"You remember that one time in the service when you didn't know I was a bit of a woodcrafter and you tried to bind me with a hemp rope?"

Eames's clever fingers had made their way up to the perfect knot of Arthur's tie. The point man's eyes widened when he felt it unknotting itself and slipping away from his collar and into Eames's hand!

Arthur jerked away as quickly as he could, cursing to himself as he felt the material of his tie wrap itself around his wrists. At Eames's silent direction, the tie knotted itself in a complicated double constrictor knot- the knot that would be almost impossible for Arthur to free himself from. If he kept pulling it would only get tighter.

"Really, Arthur? You wore a natural fabric tie?" Eames tutted at him, still smiling at the look the point man shot him. Arthur, his hands bound in front of him and useless for crafting, forced himself to his feet.

He stumbled a few steps away, calling on his earth fury, borrowing its strength.

Eames got to his feet and watched Arthur, knowing what he was doing. The forger rubbed at his cheek, wincing just a bit when his fingers touched the sore spot. "I wouldn't try to use earthcrafted strength to break free from that knot. You're more likely to damage your lovely hands and wrists!"

Arthur glared at Eames, making it a point to lace his fingers together, making his hands into one fist.

"I'm not that delicate!"

The point man lunged forwards, swinging his bound hands at the center of Eames's body.

Eames fell back a few steps, barely dodging a blow that had enough strength to punch a hole through him!

He called on his own earth fury, shoving Arthur backwards with two hands on the man's shoulders.

And then, Eames had an idea.

He kept up his earthcrafting, changing the tone a bit and focusing on Arthur.

"You don't want to beat me to a pulp, darling," Eames was saying, keeping his voice low. "You're better at this, you're the best. Let's not fight to the death."

Arthur narrowed his eyes, watching Eames with caution.

"You're gentling me," Arthur hissed, no doubt feeling Eames's efforts at calming him and soothing his anger. "I'm not a spooked horse."

Eames took a step closer, not minding their audience. "Oh, no. You're not a horse." Eames licked his lips, noticing how Arthur's eyes flicked down to his mouth and then away. "But you'd agree that humans can behave in much the same way as animals."

"We are right here!" Cobb called to them, reminding them of his presence. "I get that you two have some issues that need to be worked out, but earthcrafting isn't the answer!"

Ariadne shot a look at Cobb and then looked back at the pair. Eames was reaching out to touch Arthur, speaking softly.

"What do you mean?"

Cobb didn't look at her- he was too focused on Arthur and Eames. "Earthcrafting has many applications. You're already familiar with the extra strength your fury can offer you. Earthcrafting can lend the crafter extra stamina, can allow the crafter to run for great distances on fury-crafted roads, make the ground rise up and allow the crafter to ride it like a strange raft." Cobb coughed and shrugged a little. "And there's this application of earthcrafting…it allows the crafter to influence another's basic, primal desires."

"You mean you can make someone fall in love?"

Cobb rubbed the back of his neck and blushed just a little when he actually did look at Ariadne. "A kind of love, I guess. A strong earthcrafter can drive a person mad with lust and passion." He gestured to Eames, who was very carefully laying his hand against Arthur's bound wrists.

"He's changing Arthur's anger into something he thinks he can manage."

Ariadne bit her lip, watching as the necktie fell from Arthur's wrists, freeing him. As it fell to the ground, Arthur's face went slack. But his eyes! Goodness, his eyes burned with want and something else…

The point man reached for Eames, who didn't flinch when Arthur got a hold of the front of his shirt, bunching up the material in his fist and dragging the other man closer. He pressed his other hand to the side of Eames's face which was already starting to darken with a clear hand-shaped bruise. Eames did flinch then, but refused to move away from Arthur now that he had him so close and so calm.

"Oh, Mr. Eames," Arthur said softly. "I guess you got me this time."

Eames swallowed hard. "I do?"

"Of course. When haven't you?" Arthur pressed himself closer, unmindful of their audience, even when Yusuf poked his head out of his open-air lab.

The chemist quietly, stealthily moved to where Cobb and Ariadne were watching.

He sat down and stared at the pair, grinning to himself. "I should have brought popcorn!"

"You think this is entertaining?" Ariadne hissed, her cheeks already pink with embarrassment.

Yusuf scoffed at her, shaking his head. "You have no idea how many times I've had to sit and listen to Eames bitch and moan about missing Arthur. Loving Arthur. Wishing he could go and see Arthur! Their weird relationship is better than what's on cable. This is an important scene!"

He shot Cobb a look. "And you owe me five bucks!"

"You guys are betting on your friend's hooking up?!"

Before Ariadne could follow this up with another scathing comment, the mood of their two fighters had shifted.

If Arthur had looked a little glassy-eyed when Eames started in on him, Eames's eyes were now fever-bright as Arthur had wrapped his arms around the forger.

"Poor, Eames," Arthur was saying.

"I don't feel like a poor Eames," the forger was saying, his voice a little more than a raspy whisper. "I feel very lucky, I feel very rich. Am I winning?"

Arthur smiled at Eames shook his head.

"My poor Eames, you forgot that I'm the stronger earthcrafter, didn't you?"

Eames's eyes widened briefly before Arthur manipulated him with his own earthcrafting, lulling Eames back into the lazy, pleased mindset.

"You can't out-earthcraft me, Eames."

The forger sighed, almost moaning as Arthur ran his fingers through his hair, gently scratching at his scalp with his nails. If the forger were a cat, he'd definitely be purring for the point man.

"But you should have remembered."

Eames opened one heavy lidded eye, peeking curiously at Arthur.

"A gentleman doesn't do this sort of thing without their partner's consent."

"I give you full permission, darling."

Then Eames leaned in and kissed Arthur on the lips, as if he'd been waiting for the right chance to do it and couldn't wait anymore.

Arthur allowed it but carefully placed one hand against Eames's temple- he deepened the kiss, not caring about the people watching him, just enjoying the relay of emotions his earthcrafting of Eames and from Eames was giving him. It was good- it was far too good.

It took him a lot to stop, but he did. He rested his forehead against Eames's, satisfied in listening to their heavy breathing.

"That was wonderful," Eames was saying, clinging to Arthur like a limpet, not wanting to leave an inch of space between them. "Tell me we get to do that more than once?"

Arthur laughed. "Of course, Mr. Eames. But first, I need you to sleep."

Eames pulled away just enough to look Arthur in the face; Eames frowned, still a little addled and far too bright-eyed.

"What?"

Arthur called on his water fury, having kept his fingers pressed against Eames's temple and said, once again with power behind his words.

"Go to sleep, Mr. Eames."

Unable to resist his command, Eames was rendered unconscious by Arthur's water fury. Still drawing on his earth fury for strength, the point man had no trouble supporting Eames's dead weight, lowering him gently to the ground.

Ariadne watched him; Arthur was so careful with Eames. He fetched the forger's coat and folded it into a serviceable pillow for the man's head. There were lots of things she'd like to ask; she wanted to know more about this strange application of earthcrafting, she wanted to know how he'd managed to knock Eames out cold. But there was something she wanted to ask first.

"Arthur..."

The point man looked up at the sound of his name.

"Why is your wind fury named Spot?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and pointed at Cobb. "His daughter was adamant about calling my wind fury Spot. She did it for so long, that my fury took a liking to it." Arthur shrugged, keeping his hands busy by adjusting Eames's shirt collar as the man slept. "If I got to choose the name myself, I would have chosen something different. Something like Sköll or Hati."

"The wolves that chase the sun and moon in Norse mythology?"

Arthur snorted. "I don't think you have much room to talk, you named your fury after Terry Pratchett's World Turtle."