Warning; alternate universe, supernatural, teen! Arthur, lolangst, one-sided Arthur/Cobb, Cobb/Mal
Disclaimer; if only, ohoho ~
Author's Notes; Thank you, once more, for all the lovely reviews. I hope these next few chapters please you. c: And I apologize for being a day late, but FF wasn't letting me login/upload things yesterday. 8C
The next day being Sunday was a good and bad thing; it's good, because he didn't need to deal with Dom's reaction and all, but it's bad because he's now faced with why Eames was tearing up.
Arthur was pretty sure that he had it figured out, since, after all, he nearly stayed up all night dwelling on what had happened.
Eames was obviously jealous, and the words from before proved that— but Arthur didn't believe the confession. It seemed like kids' play, but the Englishman was acting as if they had known each other for years.
He shook his head from the thoughts.
Eames would simply need to suck it up.
It was just a simple kiss— a simple kiss that he wished was extended, but at the same time, he regretted it. Dom would probably feel awkward around him now, and truthfully, Arthur wasn't going to blame him. He knew that, when he returned to school Monday, he would be awkward around the athlete as well. Something like this wouldn't go ignored.
He didn't want to face that. Maybe it was best if he took Monday off, but his parents wouldn't approve and he wouldn't have anything to do, since now, Eames wasn't talking to him.
Reverting his thoughts back to Eames, Arthur bit his bottom lip. He thought about apologizing, but apologizing for what? He didn't do anything wrong. Sure, he may have shared a kiss with Dom, but it wasn't anything but a peck. And Dom didn't even return it.
His eyes squeezed close at that thought.
It hurt— the dreadful clench in his chest. He shouldn't have acted on his emotions. He should have left it alone. He should have— he should have listened to Eames. But at the time, the Britishman was spitting out what seemed to be lies, seeing that they were trying to draw him away from Dom. Now, they sounded like actual warnings.
Arthur groaned and ran his hand through his hair. He tugged on his locks, frustrated. He wasn't suppose to get into this sort of situation. This was a sole reason why he shouldn't date or look into someone during his schooling years. Surely, this would screw up his grades— his math one, especially. And now, he needed to get use to silence.
He also told himself that it shouldn't matter— that Eames was just a companion he lost, just like Fischer. It shouldn't affect him. It really shouldn't, but it did.
If he were to blame someone, it would be his mom. Without her decision to moving here, he wouldn't have met Dom or Eames. He would have been fine with Fischer by his side. But of course, fate just had to play its game with him, and now, he was being tossed into a spiral of drama.
"Damn," the young teen whispered as he fell back on his bed to stare at the ceiling.
For this moment, he could only hope that Dom would try to ignore it. And that Eames stopped sulking or whatever he's doing, and talk to him.
That wasn't the case.
The Englishman didn't appear all of Sunday. He continued to stay absent as Arthur made his way from the bedroom to the school, Monday morning.
Arthur dreaded the entire day, his cheerfulness and enthusiasm from Thursday was wiped clean. He barely spoke a word, and fortunately, those that chose to talk to him, or usually spoke to him, caught on and didn't push him to answer unless it was absolutely mandatory.
When math rolled around, Arthur, for the first time in his life, considered skipping. He thought about hiding out in the bathroom, but in the end, he chickened out of skipping and appeared at the foot of the door just as the bell rang.
It was definitely awkward. Even though they didn't look or greet each other, Arthur just felt completely tensed while sitting beside the blond male.
Class went on as usual, but he found it hard to concentrate. He wanted to talk to Dom about what happened Saturday afternoon, and perhaps apologize for his lack of control, but he bit back any sort of apology. He shouldn't be sorry for what he feels and for trying, because that was only putting himself down more. He could only hope that the awkwardness would cease over the weeks. Yet, if each day was going this slow, Arthur was sure that he was going to go crazy sooner or later.
When lunch came, he contemplated sitting elsewhere, but Ariadne was already leading him towards the table. So he followed and sat, adverting his gaze from Dom. Instead, he caught Mal's eye.
It was obvious that Dom told her, since she was warily staring at him when he wasn't looking.
Arthur wanted to scream with frustration, but he ended up taking out his anger by stabbing his spoon into his yogurt cup.
Next to him, Ariadne asked him another one of her concerned questions.
"Are you okay?"
It was the ninth one asked today, if he wasn't mistaken.
"Fine," he answered stiffly, for the ninth time today.
On his other side, Lorenzo nudged him. "Didn't get laid?"
Arthur knew the male was joking, but the question wounded him. His jaw clenched, and he glared at his yogurt.
Lorenzo and Houston laughed.
"You'll have plenty of more chances!" Houston chortled.
Punching them both sounded like a good idea, but Arthur couldn't risk getting another suspension. One was enough, and plus, he would be dead by boredom by the end of the first day. And Eames—
Arthur mentally kicked himself for bringing the topic up again, but he couldn't help it.
Scowling slightly, he stood up. After excusing himself quickly, Arthur made his way out of the cafeteria.
He found himself in the restroom moments later, leaning over the sink, his face drenched with water. His eyes were closed, and he breathed unevenly.
He needed to get over himself; the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Another shakey breath drew from him.
He needed to let this go; dwelling on it wouldn't be beneficial to him. He should be able to get over it; it wasn't like he imagined tying a knot with the blond athlete anyways.
Arthur shifted his body, straightening up. His eyes captured a picture of himself looking unlike himself, and the moment he saw that in the mirror's reflection, he took his eyes away. Again, he exhaled to calm his system. Once he deemed himself worthy to walk back, he made his way out of the boys' bathroom.
Unfortunately, for him, there stood Mal, obviously waiting to talk to him. He wanted to turn back and disappear behind the walls separating the bathroom and the hallway, but it was much too late; Mal had already spotted him.
"Dom told me," she stated simply, sauntering forward.
Arthur froze in his place, watching her as she drew close.
"Didn't Eames warn you?"
His mouth ran dry.
She leered even closer. "I understand your crush, since I was once in your position, but Dom and I ... we're in a relationship."
Arthur told himself that he should have figured that out; he scolded himself for not knowing before. Wasn't it obvious? Apparently not to him, since he had focused solely on Dom above other troubles the past few weeks.
"I'm not saying that you should stay away, Arthur. I really have no problem, but he feels awkward, as you can tell, now that he realized your feelings for him."
The young male tore his sights away. He felt ashamed, and he began to regret ever touching lips with Dom.
"Arthur—"
"I apologize," he murmured. "I acted on my emotions without thought."
She sighed in response. "It's understandable. I'm just wondering, though, how did Eames react?"
At the sound of the name, Arthur's gaze snapped back to Mal, and he frowned. "He's being dramatic."
"Please elaborate."
Arthur hesitated for a moment, then answered. "We're not talking."
"I see."
Mal appeared deep in thought for a while.
Arthur could have used that time to escape, but for some reason, he stayed rooted in his spot. He was awaiting her reply, and it was an expected reply.
"He really does like you. Most of our conversation that day revolved around you. Call it puppy love, but I can tell that he has strong feelings for you."
Arthur exhaled slowly once more. He wanted to approach this in a non-offending and bashing way, but his tone was still stiff.
"He can get over it, just as I can get over Dom." His brow drew towards each other. "He's acting like an ass."
"That's what jealousy does to people, but Arthur, look at me." She grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to meet her eyes. "He won't get over it as easily. Though he's human, he's one in a mirror. And being trapped in there for more than six years, he's desperate. Except, this time, he sounds sincere. He thinks you're the one."
"He got over you, didn't he? He told me that he fancied you as well. What makes this time different?"
Her lips pressed into a thin line for a moment. She removed the grasp from his shoulder. "I don't know."
When she glanced away, Arthur took that ad a cue to move. "Exactly. It's no different," he answered before brushing her aside and making his way back to the cafeteria.
The day continued to drag on. He barely spoke to any members of his little group. He even made a mad dash to his car to avoid walking with Ariadne. By time he reached the house, he was already tired— tired of everything.
He leaned back against the seat of his car, his eyes closing. He took long breaths. They didn't help. In the end, he scrambled out of his vehicle and made his way inside.
His mother was lounging in the living room, but he didn't bother to greet her as he usually did. Instead, he continued upstairs where he continued to shut himself in.
For the first few moments, he laid on the bed, staring at the mirror.
Five minutes in, he sat up.
"Eames," he addressed, leaning slightly forward towards the mirror. "I know you're listening to me."
And sure enough, he was.
The Englishman appeared before him, this time, with a soft smile. That was more like it. "You called?"
Arthur was not impressed. "Yes," he replied hotly. "We need to talk."
The smile faltered a bit. "I'd rather not."
"We're going to talk," the dark brunet pressed.
Eames' gaze met his, and then the oceanic eyes turned away. He sighed. "Alright."
"This pining," the student started, shifting a bit, "is ridiculous. I'm speaking for myself also. I— we ... we need to move on."
Eames' expression is hard.
Arthur pursed his lips faintly for a second before continuing. "You'll find someone else." As the final words escaped from his mouth, silence fell between them. While he tried to analyze the Englishman's expressions, Eames was desperately trying to avoid his gaze. When their eyes met for the second time that day, it's filled with determination.
Eames nodded. "You're right. I should move on. It's obvious that you won't return my feelings." They were slightly snapped, but Arthur could very well detect the honesty in it. And for some odd reason, he didn't like it. It was as if he didn't want to hear that— that he wanted Eames to continue chasing him.
He didn't pay much attention to this new arrival of emotion, though. Waving it aside, he nodded back, locking the agreement.
Eames eased into another smile, and it was some sort of hurtful smile. Happiness was shown at the lips, but at the eyes, it told a completely different story. Arthur could tell that his words hurt the other, but it was too late to take them back now.
"How was your day?" By the tone alone, Arthur could tell that Eames was forcing the question out, which probably meant that the other had no intentions of talking to him. In return, Arthur also had the same feeling. They had nothing to talk about, and if they did, he didn't feel up to it.
"Fair."
Eames nodded slightly, accepting that as an answer.
As silence continued to linger between them, the young student eventually glanced away, and when he turned back, the Englishman was gone.
The day proceeded at a timely manner; it wasn't long before the arrival of the next day.
Tuesday morning, he really did dread school. For one, he had learned the previous day that Mal and Dom were in a relationship, and secondly, he had ignored almost everyone yesterday. Surely, if they didn't ask him why he was acting this way, then they would ignore him in return. That wasn't really bad, but it was probably going to make him feel unwanted.
First period science, Ariadne didn't greet him as cheerfully, but she did ask how he was feeling and then told him that she didn't see him after school yesterday.
Arthur merely shrugged it off, passed off his feelings as 'fine', and continued on with the day.
When math approached, he came into class at the last minute again, since he was contemplating whether or not to go. He couldn't force himself to skip class, though, so here he was.
Dom didn't glance in his direction or greeted him. It was when Arthur decided that enough was enough did he turn to the blond athlete.
"What grade do you think we made for the project?" he questioned.
Dom shifted slightly and peered up in his direction. "Hopefully a passing grade." Though the words didn't seem like it was hinting at a conversation, Arthur accepted the answer.
He nodded. "Yeah, hopefully."
He then turned back towards the instructor.
The next time either of them spoke was after math class. Dom had gotten up while Arthur was packing up. When the blond was standing next to his bed, the dark brunet glanced up.
"About Saturday—" Dom started hastily, but Arthur cut him off abruptly by standing up and collecting his books and notebooks into his arms.
"It's fine. Mal told me everything. I ... I'm moving on."
For a fleeting second, their eyes met, then the athlete nodded. "Alright. I wanted to make sure, since we didn't talk a lot, and you're a valuable friend."
The slightest smile passed on Arthur's lips, though the pain within his chest clenched and made appearance. "Likewise."
Dom offered him a small smile that simply made his heart flutter. "See you at lunch, yeah?"
"Yeah, see you."
As the blond ushered out of the door, Arthur lingered at his step a bit.
Their relationship, at the moment, seemed fine. Dom was talking to him again, and that lifted his spirits a bit. He made his way to his next period, and then to lunch when time arrived for it. As he sat down, he felt Mal's wary gaze on him. Dom didn't look up to acknowledge him. Tadashi was peering in another direction, completely ignoring those at the table. The rest were in the lunch line.
Arthur sat down in front of Tadashi and cleared his throat to get attention.
Dom looked over at him.
"Hey," started Arthur.
"Hey," came the reply, but that was basically it.
They ate in silence for a bit until the three others arrived. Ariadne took a seat on Arthur's left while Lorenzo fought Houston for the seat next to him. In the end, Lorenzo won, and he sat down in the seat with glee. Arthur couldn't help but be amused at their bicker. Ariadne, on the other hand, nudged him.
"Do you want my apple?" she asked after taking note of his own lunch which consisted of nothing more than water and a sandwich.
"I'm fine," he answered, then quickly added "thanks anyways" just so he didn't sound rude.
Silence fell between the seven, but it was broken not two moments later by Houston.
"Why are we quiet? We're never quiet."
"Something happened," Lorenzo piped up.
Arthur glanced at Mal's and Dom's direction to see their response.
Both were unaffected.
"So ... are we meeting at Ari's cafe tomorrow?"
"I have—" started Dom in answer to Houston's question, but Ariadne leaned over.
"Yes, we are." Her gaze then shot at Arthur. "We are," she stressed, as if Arthur was about to make an excuse.
— ox — xo —
Turned out, the meeting wasn't as horrible. Through the school day Wednesday morning and afternoon, Mal had began to speak again, and gradually, the lunch table filled with chatter. At the cafe, though, Arthur was one of the first to arrive. Ariadne wasn't there, but Mal and Tadashi was. Arthur could have stayed in his car, but he decided not to. He dismissed himself from his vehicle and walked in.
"Arthur! How nice to see you again!" It was Ariadne's mother, looking as excited as she was the first time they met.
The brunet student eased into a smile. "And to you as well, Mrs. Dutch."
"Quite the gentleman, aren't you? Would you like a bagel or two?"
He shook his head in response. "I'm just here for the ... gathering." He glanced over at the table where Mal was looking at him from, then turned back to the motherly figure. "Thank you, though."
"Well, bagel or not, you're still going to have a feast. Sit. I'll be out with your drinks. What do you want— coke? Coffee?"
"Plain water will do."
"Alright, then."
With a smile, Mrs. Dutch scrambled away, leaving Arthur behind to make a decision whether to wait or go over to the table now. After careful consideration, he made up his mind and walked over to the table where Mal and Tadashi were seated. Instead of looking at him with her beady, dark eyes, Mal smiled.
"Look who's here at last," she announced, making the other dark haired boy sitting at the table look up. Tadashi didn't greet him, and instead, returned his gaze to the music player that was set on the table.
"Sit," Mal ordered, patting the seat next to her.
Arthur became hesitant; he wasn't exactly sure whether or not to take the seat there or beside Tadashi. He seemed safer on the junior's side rather than Mal's side. The slight narrow of eyes proved this. Nevertheless, he waved off the fear and hesitation and sat down next to the female.
She beamed. "The others should be arriving— ah, there's Ariadne and Yusuf."
Arthur glanced over his shoulder to see the pair enter the cafe.
Ariadne was laughing at what the waiter had said, and Yusuf himself was chuckling. When their eyes met the ones at the table, Ariadne ushered over. "Arthur, you've met Yusuf, right?" she chirped, gesturing Yusuf over.
Arthur nodded twice. "On the first day I moved here." He extended a hand at Yusuf's direction. "A pleasure, Yusuf. Your cappuccinos are amazing."
The man, looking fresh out of high school, but perhaps a bit older, grinned and shook his hand. "Thank you, sir. Would you like me to make you another?"
"Mrs. Dutch already took my order."
"Ah, that woman. That's suppose to be my job."
"Well," Ariadne drawled out, "if you weren't fifteen minutes late, then you would have been serving us."
Yusuf sniffed. "My car broke down."
Ariadne rolled her eyes. "As you say," she replied before sliding into the seat next to Arthur.
The waiter huffed. "Anything else for you four, then?" he asked.
Mal, sitting on Arthur's right, leaned over, her brown hair brushing his cheek slightly. He sat back to avoid more of the fluttered touches. "Bagels would be nice, and the usual." She grinned, which put Arthur at ease.
"Alright; coming right up!" With that, the man turned and headed towards the back.
It wasn't long after that did the others arrive. Dom quickly snatched the seat next to Mal, while Lorenzo and Houston surrounded Tadashi on both ends.
Here, the conversation was easy to start and less awkward, even though Ariadne, Lorenzo, Houston, and Mal did most of the talking. Arthur was trying to refrain from looking over at Dom, so he was rather thankful when the bagels and drinks arrived. As he bit into the warm bread, he shared a look with Dom, but it was only for a split second. The blond had resumed having a small conversation with Mal and Houston, but twenty minutes later, he was engaged in a conversation with the entire table. Arthur thought the atmosphere was rather nice then. He threw in a few of his responses and received replies to them.
They talked about various things; school, the glitchy weather, what they were going to do for the weekend and holidays, and so forth. Out of the latest subjects, Arthur learned that Mal was traveling out of the town over Fall Break, and Tadashi, Lorenzo, Ariadne, Mal, and Dom were going to be out of town Winter Break— which meant that he would be left behind with Houston. It wasn't as if that was bad; he was sure that he would need to visit family over Christmas as well. If that was the case, then Houston would be the only one in Limbo.
Shaking his head from the thoughts, Arthur tuned back into the conversation the group and Yusuf, who had taken the spot on the other side of Lorenzo, held.
They were talking about their future. Ariadne, Yusuf, and Dom hoped to settle down with kids. Mal wanted to travel the world. Houston and Lorenzo wanted to run and strip club, and Tadashi, well, he decided being a Walmart greeter would be the easiest job. When it was Arthur's turn to speak his thoughts, he merely shrugged and repeated what the first three said.
But as he thought of before, he didn't want children. They were much too bothersome and would involve a female in order for the baby to be born, anyways. Then again, he could adopt, but what was the point? He'd rather live without them. If his parents wanted someone to pass down the family name and line, then they might as well have another child.
Just not when he's around.
The mere thought of that made him cringe, which made Ariadne quirk a brow.
"You don't like steak?"
Oh, they were moving onto the topic of food, now?
He blinked. "I like steak," he stated.
"Lookie here! I'm Ariadne, and I'm a vegetarian!" Houston mimicked.
The female sitting on Arthur's left reached over and smacked the boy. A few around laughed at such sight. Ariadne grinned.
"So. Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?" Lorenzo asked.
"I've never tried one before—"
"Technically, vegetarians don't eat meat," Arthur piped up.
"Jellyfish don't have meat," Houston shot back.
"No one eats jellyfish, though," Dom murmured not too far away.
Tadashi raised his head from peering down at his music player. "I eat jellyfish," he stated dully.
Arthur couldn't help but steal a glance in the blond athlete's direction. Dom was recovering from choking on water. Mal helped him by patting his back and soothing him.
Arthur didn't like the sight at all. How was it that Dom preferred Mal over him? Maybe because she was a female and quite stunning? It was a possibility. Arthur had to remind himself that not everyone within the world was homosexual. Then again, he himself was supposed to be heterosexual in order to meet his parent's requirements. And Ariadne did look very pretty— but he considered her no more than a companion, a friend. It would be awkward to have his arm around her and whatnot.
His gazed snapped away from Mal's hand on Dom's back. He tried to ignore it by repeatedly telling himself that the two were in a relationship, but he ended up having his jaw clenched.
It had been four days since the incident, and still, he had not gotten over it yet— well, actually, he had, but he hadn't gotten over the fact that Mal and Dom were together.
Arthur hadn't expected them as a couple either. He still thought that Dom was bisexual or something, because a man as beautiful as Dom couldn't be straight. Or maybe he wasn't straight, and he was just not attracted to Arthur. Maybe Dom liked some other male like Houston or someone and covered it up by dating Mal. That was somewhat the plan Arthur had before when he had thoughts about dating Ariadne in order to make his parents happy and give him the view that he wasn't homosexual. Or perhaps Dom did feel something back, and he was just new to the feeling and— no.
He needed to keep his mind from these thoughts. He didn't want to convince himself that he could have a chance, when really, in reality, he didn't. If Dom liked him, then he would come to him. If he didn't, then Arthur should let him go and find someone else more suitable. After all, there were, he was sure, many other beautiful men in the world. They just didn't go to his school.
"Arthur. You there? Come back down to Earth, Arthur. Arthuuur."
Snapping away from his trance, the young brunet shot a look in Houston's direction while batting away the hand that waved in front of his face.
"You're daydreaming a lot. Who is it?"
Arthur blinked at Lorenzo's question, letting it seep in slowly. When it finally did, he tried to wave it off as nothing to worry about. "English essay is due tomorrow. My printer broke down." It wasn't a lie; his printer actually did break down, but that didn't mean that he couldn't email it to his teacher.
"You can use mine," Ariadne chirped. "Or you can send it to me and I'll print it out."
"It's fine, Ariadne. I'll just think of another—"
"No, I insist. I'll have it to you by first period tomorrow." She smiled at him, as if she just made a promising statement.
Arthur nodded slightly. "Alright, thanks." He managed a small smile before glancing away and sipping his water.
When he sat back, his eyes caught Houston's, but a moment later, they were darted aside. Waving it off as nothing, Arthur glazed back towards Yusuf.
"You said you graduated from Limbo High School?"
The waiter nodded. "A few years ago, actually."
Interesting.
"Did you hear about Eames' disappearance?" As he asked that question, he felt Mal shifting beside him. She was definitely listening. On the other hand, Ariadne wasn't as observing as the female senior.
"Why are you interested in the disappearance of Eames?" she questioned.
Arthur managed a shrug. "Seemed interesting; it was the biggest case from Limbo, after all."
Luckily, Ariadne accepted that as an answer.
His attention then drew back to Yusuf.
"Oh, yes. He was actually one of my best mates. Fresh from England."
"Oh." Arthur quickly conjured up the information he had gathered on the other male. "And Nash," he began, but Yusuf spoke up before he could continue.
"Ah, Nash. We were friends once. Then, he moved to somewhere unknown. Didn't tell anyone."
"When did he move?"
"I don't know. I don't keep up with him, but it was my senior year when he disappeared, I think."
"I see." Arthur glanced over at Mal to see what she was making out of this. Though she was warily stirring the ice cubes in her coke, Arthur could tell that she was thinking.
About what, though? Yusuf wasn't giving him much information. He didn't even seem like he knew a lot anyways. Unless he was in the group that Eames dragged along to beat up Nash.
"Were you on the basketball team? I read somewhere that Eames played for the junior varsity."
Yusuf shook his head and laughed. "I can't play sports worth my life." That meant that Yusuf probably didn't contain much information.
"Soccer's easy. So is basketball, tennis, and all the other sports," Lorenzo spoke.
Yusuf sniffed. "Easy because you actually know how to play sports. I never tried."
"I play volleyball," Ariadne pitched in.
"Badmin," Tadashi said a second later.
"Swim team," Mal replied.
Yusuf, in return, huffed. "You guys are making me look—"
"I can't play sports either," Arthur piped.
Ariadne smack his arm playfully. "I saw you playing tennis!"
Arthur threw her a look.
Yusuf groaned.
— ox — xo —
The gathering lasted for nearly three hours before homework approached as their subject, and with that, they departed their separate ways. Ariadne had given him her email address and reminded him to send it before nine. He agreed, and after bidding a farewell to the rest, he made his way to the car.
Once strapped in in the driver's seat, Arthur started the engine and glanced in rear view mirror to see that no one was behind his car. Instead of seeing no one, he saw a couple. Kissing. And it was Dom and Mal.
He watched, astonished and with jealousy, as their kiss continued. A moment later, they drew back and Dom turned and got in his car. If Arthur was a murderer, he would have backed up into Mal, but since he wasn't, he simply glared as she made her way to the car beside Dom's and got in.
Arthur didn't waste any time backing out and driving towards his house. On the way there, he was constantly fighting tears. He didn't want his parents or Eames, for that matter, to catch him like this. He drunk back the tears successfully, but it became harder as he parked and pulled the key out of the engine. He wanted to stay in the car and simply let go, but he don't want to risk looking ridiculous to those who could look at him through the windows, so he got out.
With his backpack slung on one shoulder and a notebook in his left hand, he quickly let himself into the house.
It was quiet. His parents weren't home. Perfect. After securing the lock, the dark brunet made a mad dash up the stairs. At the foot of his bedroom, he felt his chest tighten for a final time. His sights blurred. He dropped his backpack to the ground and placed the notebook on his desk.
Hoping that Eames was asleep, Arthur ushered towards the bathroom and shut himself in. There, he wiped the tears from his eyes and willed himself to stop thinking about Dom and Mal, but the more he tried, the more he thought about them.
He sniffed, wiping his eyes again.
He didn't dare look at the mirror. He didn't want to risk seeing how pathetic he had become simply because his heart decided to perform actions in which he didn't allow at first.
It took him nearly thirty minutes to calm down and look like he wasn't crying. He had squeezed enough tears out for the day, and really, he didn't plan to cry more.
An exhale escaped him as he dismissed himself from the bathroom. The moment he opened the door and stepped into his bedroom, though, a question greeted him.
"Are you alright?" And here, he was hoping that Eames didn't notice.
Arthur gave a slow nod as he made his way to his backpack to retrieve his homework. "I'm fine."
Eames snorted lightly. "I heard your sniffles. Don't play it off as nothing."
Arthur didn't bother to answer. He grabbed his necessary items and made his way to the bed. Once situated, the Englishman spoke to him again.
"Is it about Dom?"
The student's hand froze, hovering over the notebook.
Eames took this action for granted and continued. "I told you it wasn't a good idea."
"Shut it," Arthur murmured once he had dawned back down to Earth.
"No, Arthur, darling. Look at me. You're letting yourself get hurt. You said you'll move on."
Arthur's brows furrowed as he glared at the notebook in front of him. "I did move on," he gritted out.
"You were crying—"
"I had something in my eye," he snapped, raising his glare to meet Eames' oceanic eyes.
"Bullshit, love. You're not a good liar."
"And you're not a good listener. Leave me alone. I have homework to complete."
Eames' gaze narrowed on him. "I want to help you."
"I didn't ask for your help."
"But you need it."
"I don't need your help," he hissed. "Or you, for that matter."
"You keep telling yourself that, but you do need me and my help."
A frustrated sigh came from both sides.
"Look, Arthur. I care. You can tell me anything, and I won't judge. You need someone to talk to, and I'm here to hear you out."
"I appreciate your concern, but I don't need—"
"You're blocking me out, and you'll continue to dwell on it. Mal did tell you that she's in a relationship with Dom, right?"
At the sound of that, Arthur bit his inner cheek. He didn't want to say anything. He should probably just gather his items and move to the living room to work, but—
"You need to move on, love, and find someone that actually loves you back."
When Arthur raised his gaze to meet Eames' this time, he caught sight of the soft blue-green eyes. His fiery temper settled slightly as he continued to stare.
"There's someone who loves you here," Eames continued in a mere whisper. "Someone who cried watching you fall in love with someone else. Someone who still believes that you'll turn around and come back to him."
Arthur shifted slightly so that his legs were now dangling off the side of the bed.
"I'll help you forget," the other proceeded. "Give me a chance, and I'll show you."
Arthur felt breathing coming ragged to him as he slid out of bed. He felt like a puppet— controlled by the words coming from Eames' mouth, but he wanted no more than to believe— than to forget. He wanted what Mal had, but—
"I want to love you," Eames spoke, leaning close and placing a hand on the other side of the mirror.
Arthur didn't hesitate as he stepped forward. He didn't hesitate either when he placed his hand over Eames'. His eyes met the startling blue-green ones. He felt his heart swell. He decided then and there that he wanted to forget, that Dom wasn't worth it— that Eames was. His gaze flickered towards the lips.
"Kiss me," came the British drawl, and Arthur did.
He leaned in, his eyes closed in attempt to forget, and pressed his lips against the cool surface of the mirror.
And then—
Nothing happened.
There was no spark that the books talked about. There was no feeling of warmth. Nothing.
It was because he was kissing a mirror.
Arthur pulled back, a second later, and found himself faced with a confused, but equally teary-eyed male. No words were spoken, but the hurt in the Englishman's eyes was all he needed.
It didn't work. Nothing worked; it was the same as before. Even Eames seemed to realize this, since he backed away, looking horrified and disappointed, before disappearing from Arthur's sight.
This left the young teen alone to stare at his reflection and see what he had resorted to in just the matter of weeks.