Contrary to his father's passive-aggressive allegations, Eames had worked a summer job every year since he was old enough. The next morning, he arrived at his mother's office at the British Museum, clad in brown slacks that perfectly matched the center of the diamond pattern on his vintage 1970s shirt. Within a few minutes, she had ushered him to a worktable where his sister Alice was already seated. "The accessioning checklist is here, and Alice can refresh your memory if there's anything that you don't remember. I won't be able to have lunch with you two today because I have meetings all afternoon." his mother rolled her eyes dramatically. "Please don't leave for the day until you confirm that my brain hasn't leaked out my ears in an effort to escape."

Alice snorted, and Eames smiled. "You got it, Mum."

"You do that, and dinner is on me tonight at a place of Will's choosing."

Within an hour, Eames and Alice had fallen into a steady process, enjoying working in proximity to one another with just a radio playing softly in the background. However, after his mother came by the table to check on them on the way to her marathon agenda of meetings, Alice leaned forward conspiratorially. "Spill."

Eames feigned innocence as he flipped over another page in the accessioning log and verified it matched what was on the computer screen. "Spill what, my dear sister?"

"Oh, come on, Will. You've met someone. You have that walking-on-air, dopey smile on your face, and you've had it since you got back from that research job. Tell your sister everything."

"His name," Eames paused for dramatic effect, "is Jacob. He's sweet and a little shy and beautiful. He has this thick, dark hair and chocolate brown eyes..." He continued at length with a litany of Jacob's most attractive qualities, otherwise known as everything he'd learned about his boyfriend so far.

Alice listened and nodded with a warm smile growing on her face. When her twin finally stopped for breath, she chuckled. "You are head over heels. When do I get to meet him and make sure he's good enough for my favorite brother?"

Eames frowned at her suspiciously. "I'm your only brother."

"Of course. Do you think if I had more than one, my favorite would be the one with such terrible taste in shirts?" she teased playfully.

"What is wrong with my shirt?" He asked. Puffing his chest in mock pride, he informed her. "I will have you know, this is vintage."

"Vintage just means something old with a higher price tag," she retorted. "Though if you dress like that around Jacob, at least we know he's not using you as a trophy boyfriend."

Eames clutched at his heart. "You wound me, darling. Slings and arrows from my own sister!"

Alice rolled her eyes and shook her head and looked at the clock. "Why don't we continue to discuss my disloyalty over our lunch break?"

It was the happiest summer in Eames' memory. During the week, he worked a few days with his sister and Mum at the Museum, talked and texted with Jacob, dodged his father other than one mandatory meal per week ("I pay for this place, the least you can do is cook for me and be civil once a week", and devoured books. Most Fridays, Jacob's internship was quiet enough that he was out by lunchtime and he could meet up with Eames for an early dinner and then they could visit one of the museums open late that evening. Saturday or Sunday they would take a day trip, sometimes with Alice and Jacob's sister Rachel, and sometimes alone.

It was a lovely Friday night, and the foursome had just left the V&A and stopped for Italian gelato. Alice and Rachel were giggling, their faces so close together their foreheads were almost touching. Across the table, Eames faux-dramatically rolled his eyes at them and addressed Jacob. "Someone forgot to tell us that this was a girls' night." Alice glanced over long enough to make a rude gesture, causing all four of them to laugh. Eames turned to Jacob. "So anything we boys should do?"

Jacob laughed again. "I got a flyer from uni reminding me of the Shakespeare festival, and I was thinking we could take a trip out there next weekend for that."

Eames face lit up. "What are the plays right now?"

"Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest."

Eames fell back dramatically with his right hand over his heart. "Those are some of my favorites!"

"I know," Jacob laughed.

"But if we only go for the day, I'll have to choose only one," Eames whined. He was only half-joking. "I don't know that I can."

"Tone it down over there, Laurence Olivier," Alice teased. "You're not actually on stage."

"Wait, I have an idea!" Rachel sounded excited. "We should all go. The four of us. We can split the cost of a hotel suite, and we can see more than one show. If we went out on Friday, we could see shows on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!"

"And Dad won't give you a hard time if you're traveling with me?" Jacob suggested.

"Yeah, that, too," Rachel admitted. "But we can do a bunch of fun stuff if we go for the whole weekend."

"We could go to the Fizwilliam Museum." Alice chimed in, as fond of museums as her brother. "We haven't been in years."

"What else is around there?" Eames mused, mostly to himself. "Ah, yes, we could visit Oliver Cromwell's House and piss on it."

Rachel clearly hadn't anticipated that suggested and let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah, you can't tell that my brother takes pride in our Scottish and Irish heritage at all," Alice stage-whispered to her, resulting in more giggles.

"There's also Ely Cathedral." Jacob pointed out as they tossed their trash into the waste bins. The group continued discussing what they could do in Cambridge the coming weekend.

By the end of the day Monday, the plans were set. All of them were taking Friday off so that they could depart from King's Cross station in the morning. Rachel worked for a vacation booking company, and had managed to snag them a cottage when the planned renters cancelled. Eames could barely sit still for the rest of the week. He was going on a trip with Jacob, and they were going to have a bedroom to themselves for two whole nights.