I made a minor adjustment to the first chapter, the story was supposed to start one day before Christmas (December 24) but now is five days before, I am sorry for the confusion it might cause but I'm really bad with details and I realized the mistake yesterday when I was re-reading this chapter. just in case, I'm putting the date at the beginning of every chapter now on.

Please enjoy!

December 21.

Arthur took a look at the house, it was pretty big, no wonder why Ariadne was feeling lonely, it was too big for just one person, once inside they all took his coats off, it wasn't cold, the weather was a bit freeze outside but nothing they couldn't take.

"There is a small problem" all three looked at each other and then at the petite girl. "This two girls from my French class are staying with us, so we have two rooms for them, my room and two more"

"Which means, Arthur would have to share with Mr. Eames," said Cobb grabbing his bags, he literally ran up the stairs before either of them could complain.

"I…" Arthur opened his mouth but Eames interrupted him.

"I don't mind staying in a hotel if you find it uncomfortable, Love" He said "but I must say, all of my previous roommates have found me... very good companion, specially in cold nights" he added smirking.

Arthur was about to respond with a firmly no, he knew Eames wasn't serious about getting a hotel, but he saw Ariadne's disappointed face. He didn't want to feel like the stick-in-the-mud, Again. He cursed himself mentally and managed to shrug.

"I don't mind sharing," he said and Ariadne's face lighted up.

They both unpacked in silence, Arthur was enjoying the silence because he knew Eames was going to ask something stupid. He looked at him with the corner of his eye, the british man was taking his shirt off, he stared at his tattoos, Arthur never noticed them before, Well, it wasn't like he had seen Eames shirtless before, Arthur blushed lightly, he remembered what he said all of my previous roommates have found me... very good companion, specially in cold nights.

"Do you snore?" Eames' voice snapped him out o his thoughts.

"No" he cleared his throat "Do you?"

"Only when I'm tired" Eames grinned "Or when I don't get a good fuck before sleeping"

"Well, you better do something about that, because if you snore tonight, I will blow your head off"

"Mm… Blow my head, that sounds like problem solve," he teased "You look so cute when you blush, darling"

"Mr. Eames, I would rather shot myself or chop my arm off and fuck myself with it than spend one night with you, the only reason I accepted sharing a room with you was because of Ariadne, so I am begging you to stop making it harder"

He grabbed a towel and locked himself in the bathroom, he regretted the way he said that and what he said the moment he looked at Eames' face, he rubbed his eyes and took his clothes off, after he took a bath he got himself into bed, the lights were out so he assumed Eames was sleeping. He slid under his covers and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, pet"

He sighed.

"I'm sorry"

Few seconds of silence.

"I know I can be a bit too hot to handle some times, Darling" Arthur smiled.

"Goodnight, Mr. Eames"

"Apology accepted, Darling"

Maybe sharing a room with Eames wasn't going to be as hard as he thought, he just needed to relax a bit, something he have always wanted to do but find hard, he sighed again.

He woke up when he heard the shower on, he turned on the lamp and sat on the bed, he still felt tired but nothing a cup of coffee could not fix, the bathroom door opened and Eames came out, he gave him a small smile.

"Slept well, Arthur?"

"Yes"

"Very well, Darling" Eames winked at him and started dressing.

Arthur didn't like Christmas, but the thing only thing he could stand about it was the decorations, green and red everywhere, lights and mistletoes, specially the mistletoes. He walked around the streets of France asking himself why did people enjoyed it so much, until he saw a couple kissing under a mistletoe, he remembered when he was younger he always wanted to do that, but since he didn't like girls, who were the only ones up for it he was never able to do it.

"Hey Arthur!" Ariadne's voice took him out of his thoughts

"Hi, Ari, and…" he looked at two blond girls behind her.

"Oh, Sara and Kara" she said "they are staying with us"

"Arthur" he introduced himself "Twins… that's…

"Vous êtes mignon!" said one of the twins pinching his cheek.

"Merci beaucoup" he answered

"He speaks French, too! I might die," said Sara "I take this one Kara, you can take the other one!"

"Yes! And Ari, we know which one is yours!"

"Drop it, already" she hissed "Hey, some of my classmates are metting at a pub tonight, would you-"

"Please! Please come!" said Kara

"There's plenty of free alcohol" Sara added

"Sure, why not" he shrugged

"Awesome" Ariadne started walking

"Tell Ariadne's boyfriend-to-be to come!" the blond girls started laughing and Ariadne walked faster.

Arthur smiled, and assumed they were talking about Cobb. He gave a small wave and kept walking, He was about to enter the house but he saw a bench infront of the frozen lake at the back of the house. Two kids were running and sliding over the river until a woman, Ariadne's neighbor, started yelling at them, something about the ice being too thin in the middle, the kids complained and left with the woman.

"Fancy some company, darling?"

Arthur shrugged, sliding to the end of the chair to give the British man space to sit. They didn't speak, Arthur looked at Eames with the corner of his eye every now and then, after a few minutes the silence was broken.

"How have you been, Arthur?"

"I've been great"

"Just great?" Arthur nodded. "What have you been up to? Any jobs? Girlfriends?" he raised his brow suggestively.

"My only relationship during this time has been with my job, Mr. Eames" Arthur smiled sadly making Eames' heart hurt. "I'm afraid I'm not as good in that field as I am being a Point man."

"And why is that, Darling?"

Arthur glanced at Eames before answering.

"I'm not good with people in that way, I guess" he chuckled "plus, the danger of my job... I wouldn't want to bring anyone to that"

"Anybody would blame other people, but not you Arthur" Eames smiled, Arthur looked at him with a small smile that made his dimples show, Eames loved that.

"I'm not just anybody, Mr. Eames"

"No, you are not"

More silence.

"I'm sorry about kicking you out of my apartment the other day. It rained horribly, I could have invited you to stay." he said playing with his fingers nervously.

"I was rude by entering without previous notice, Darling" he said, Arthur really did sound sorry.

"How did you get into my apartment after all?"

"Oh, love, that's a secret I'm afraid I cannot reveal"

"You found the spare key under the carpet" it wasn't a question.

"There was a bloody key under the carpet!?" Eames yelled, "All the trouble I went through to get in your room, I climbed the fire stair you know, I almost fell twice, TWICE and-" he stopped when he saw Arthur trying not to laugh "What's so funny?" Then he realized. "There wasn't a spare key"

"I'm not stupid enough to leave a spare key living in the neighborhood I live, Mr. Eames"

"You tricked me, I'm hurt" He said putting a hand in his chest dramatically and then smiling. "Mr. know it all"

After that, there were a few minutes of silence, Arthur always thought being with Eames was a nightmare but there was something about that specific moment that he actually enjoyed. He started feeling his hands cold, he searched in his pocket his gloves when the wind took one away leaving in in the middle of the frozen river.

"Shit" he said standing up

"I'll go get it" Eames walked towards the lake.

"The… the middle of the lake, Shit! Eames!" Arthur ran to stop him but it was late

The ice had broke throwing Eames into the cold water, Arthur tried to walk carefully and fast as possible, the ice didn't broke due the fact that he was lighter than the blond man. He panicked when he couldn't see Eames.

"Eames! God dammed, Eames!" He could fell his hands shaking "this is all my fault" he saw Eames head "Grab my hand!" he said

"This is fu- fucking freezing!"

He pulled him out of the water and dragged him to the snow, he was shaking and his lips were purple, Arthur hold him tightly muttering something like "It's my fault" and "stupid Eames" Eames could feel his heart racing fast and his hands shaking, he cursed himself for scaring Arthur.

"It… It's ok… okay, Love" he managed to say but Arthur didn't hear him.

He stood up and took Eames to the house, once inside he sat him on the couch and started taking his shoes off, then his coat and his scarf, Eames stretched his hand and gave Arthur his glove, he took it and smiled to him like he had never smiled at him before and then hugged him. Eames wanted to kiss him but he was to cold to move. Arthur wanted to kiss him but he was too scared to dare.

"You are going to get hypothermia if you keep those clothes on."

Arthur sat him on the couch and undressed him carefully. First he unbuttoned his shirt and thrown it on the floor, his finger trembled when he unzipped his pants; Eames thought the scene was almost erotic, if he ignored the fact he was dying. Arthur unbuttoned his shirt and lay on top of him.

"Put your arms around me" he ordered.

"We are going too fast, don't you think, darling?" He smirked at him the best he could.

Arthur snorted.

"You could have died and you are here making stupid sex jokes" Eames chuckled and did what he was ordered. "I'm transferring my body heat to yours, since you are an iceberg right now"

Arthur was warm, all of him, Eames felt his breath against his neck, his eyelashes tickling him, He wondered how many have had Arthur like this before, how many had touched him so intimately, and he wished he was the only one.

"You are not the idiot I thought you were, Mr. Eames"

"Daniel" he said laughing. "My name is Daniel"

"Daniel Eames?" Eames nodded starting to caress gently Arthur's back "It suits you, it's nice"

"Thank you, love"

"My name is Arthur Houseman" Eames smiled, after all that time he finally felt he broke the ice between them.

"Houseman?" Arthur nodded "like Baby Houseman from Dirty Dancing?" they both laughed

"I've never seen it"

"Well, you don't know what you are missing" Eames chuckled. "It's the best bloody film of all time"

"Ariadne tried to convince me to watch it, but I never really found time"

"Are you and Ariadne..." Eames knew it wasn't like that but he wanted to hear it from Arthur.

"No" he answered quickly "she's not my type" he felt like a recording machine repeating the same over and over.

"Oh" Eames smiled "So, you have a type... Which is?"

"not Ariadne, she's nice but..."

"Cobb?" Arthur then knew Eames was trying to make him admit he was gay.

"He's my friend"

"With benefits?" Eames looked down at Arthur with an arched brow.

"No, of course not"

"I see..."

"for how long have you known, Eames?"

"I know everyone's secrets" he shrugged. "It's what I do for living after all"

Arthur suppressed a smile but Eames noticed it, He then realize he was comfortable in Eames' arms, too comfortable.

"We better..." he said as he pulled away from him.

"Yeah, yeah"

He stood up and buttoned his shirt, Eames sat in the couch drying his hair with a towel, he glanced at Arthur, he was infront of the mirror combing his hair back.

"I'm going to look for Cobb" he said awkwardly, Eames nodded and watched him as he left the house.

"This feels like a bad one night stand, but without the sex" he said to himself.