A slightly smaller chapter I'm afraid, hope you enjoy :D

Late that night Arthur's phone started buzzing, for a moment he thought it could be Eames and divide to get the phone off the bedside cabinet, he felt a little disappointed when the caller I.D. flashed 'Ariadne' on the screen, but just a little.

He called the accept button "Hey, what are you doing up so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing" Ari's indignant voice crackled down the phone.

He chuckled and settled down in to the mattress again "Some of us have deep thoughts that require –"

"Alright before you say something sarcastic" Ari interrupted quickly "There's something I have to tell you" she sounded so serious, for no logical reason Arthur's brain yelled that she knew, that the whole school knew he and Eames were dating, it made no sense and he dismissed it, but still, panic gripped him.

"Yeah..w..what's that?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly

There was a deep breath from the other end of the line and a silence in which Arthur's panic stirred in him and he bit his nails. Then a high pitch squeal emitted from the phone, Arthur actually had to hold it away from his face! It sounded like a banshee was trying to call him! After a few beats, he cautiously put the phone back to his ear, in time to catch "Yusuf asked me out!"

He deflated with relief, and kicked himself for being so irrational and paranoid, next he'd be jumping at shadows "That's great Ari" he meant it too, Yusuf looked at Ariadne like the sun shone out of her. That didn't mean of course he would be opposed to having a few 'choice words' if he pressured her "So he finally asked you out?"

"Well he said did I want to see a film tomorrow night, but everyone knows that's code for, do you want to go out with me. Right?" she sounded confident but he heard sliver of nervousness in her voice

He laid back against the head board, staring up at his ceiling "Yeah, that's exactly right" he assured her gently.

"You'll come round and help me chose something to wear right?"

"Of course" he promised and grinned "I can give you away at the door"

"Shut it" he heard her mutter from the other end of the line, there was the atonal sound of her laptop shutting down in the back ground "Rob's coming too"

"Sounds great I'll meet you after school?"

"Yep" there was a quality to her voice that told Arthur that wasn't the only thing Ari wanted to talk about.

"Was there something else?" he ventured after the silence stretched on

There was a shuffling sound at the end of the line and a cough as Ari cleared her throat, the silence was starting to get a little awkward "So...I told you something interesting about me"

"I don't know if I would stretch to interesting" he grinned

"Shut up I'm trying to be a good friend here!" He was taken aback by her abruptness, clearly this was actually serious "So...relationships, that's a hot topic at the moment, anything you want to add to that whole thing?"

He frowned at the statement "Have you been at the sugar again?"

There was a grunt of exasperation from the end of the line "Oh for god's sake! Look I didn't ask yesterday because I wanted to give you time or whatever you emotionally stunted guys need but now I'm asking, what was all that with Eames at my house?"she finally got out, she sounded rushed and embarrassed, but determined, to be honest Arthur had hoped she'd been too drunk to remember, or didn't see how it started, too much to hope for it seemed.

"Just got too drunk and picked a fight" he went for nonchalance, better to feign ignorance when Ari was on the warpath like this.

"And you went after him" she continued

He shrugged, before realised that Ari couldn't actually see his movement. It was so much harder for him to lie over the phone, it occurred to him that's probably why she called him instead of talking to him at school he realised "Yeah to make sure he didn't get run over"

"And?" her tone was getting sharper

"And, I couldn't find him and I'd had enough of the drama for one night so I decided to catch the night bus home" he concentrated all his efforts on keeping his voice level and normal, whilst inside he shook

"I was watching" she sounded slightly angry "you and Rob start dancing like the horny teenagers you are and then suddenly Eames is all pissed at Robert and getting physical with him"

"I wouldn't know anything about it" he replied as calmly as he could, sweat made his shirt cling to him.

"You're lying" she stated plainly

"No I'm not!"

"You are, and you're shit at it. Look Arthur, I didn't press you when you mentioned you and Eames had a history, 'cause it was obviously painful" had he been that transparent? "And I didn't press you, well not much, when you started tutoring him and when you started actually smiling at school. But I'm your friend and sometimes friends just have to bite the bullet and press. So I'll ask you one more time and don't lie to me, is there something going on with you and Eames? You know I would be totally cool if there was" she ended softly

"I know" he was lucky to have her, part of him wanted to tell her to lift some of the weight of his chest. He hated lying to her, they didn't have secrets, that's why what he said next make him feel so guilty and dirty "No, there's nothing between me and Eames" he lied, his tongue felt like it was made of lead in his mouth.

There was no reply except the crackle of the signal, then Ari exhaled deeply "Ok" she offered "You promise me?"

"I promise" he felt worse about lying to Ari than anything bad he'd done thus far, he knew she'd support him and wouldn't say anything, but stuff like this spread no matter what, you tell one person and then the next minute it's all over the school and Eames is tossed to the bottom of the pile with Arthur.

'Or maybe not' the bitter voice in his head muttered 'Maybe they'd deal with it because Eames is so very popular, one of the guys, tough, maybe they wouldn't give him shit for it. Just a shame that you weren't popular when they turned on you' he ignored the voice, but couldn't entirely silence it.

"Alright Arthur" Ari sighed "Just remember, I'm here for you whenever you need me, ok?" she still sounded doubtful but it seemed like she was willing to believe him, the fact didn't make him feel any better "So you'll come help me tomorrow"

"Of course, you know I will"

"Thanks Arthur" she sounded happier, he could practically see the small smile on her face that she got whenever someone mentioned something about Yusuf.

"You really like this guy don't you?" she scoffed nervously

"Please" she stammered "It's way too early to know, I mean we haven't even been on a date yet! It's ridiculous, It's just..."

"You really like him" he finished for her "You can't explain it, you just feel it, like he's worth fighting for"

"Yeah" she breathed "That's...that's actually pretty much exactly what I was going to say" she sounded confused and slightly suspicious again.

Arthur laughed nervously "Y'know English Lit, we get a lot of romance stories in that class" he hurried to explain, Ari hummed in response, still a note of suspicion in her tone, but she seemed content for now to let it go.

"Right, I'll see you on the bus tomorrow then"

"Yeah" he trailed off "See you Ari" the phone line clicked as she hung up, he dropped the phone onto the bed, rolling over and tugging the bed sheets over his head, as if hiding under them would cause the rest of the world and its problem to just slip away.

He wanted to tell Ari the truth, her and Robert, they were his best friends and they'd understand and do everything they could to help.

But it only took one slip, one accidental word to the wrong person and Arthur's life would go to hell again, except this time Eames would be with him. 'Good' the bitter voice hissed again. Arthur shooed it away, he didn't want Eames to go through that, he would most likely just end up resenting Arthur, no matter what he said.

He really should just stop, wait a few more months until they were free of school, go to university and find some guy; a real boyfriend, who he could hold hands with in public. Who didn't come with all the history and baggage that the two of them shared, someone he could just move in with and maybe grow old with, no drama, just a simple clean relationship. That would be the sane thing to do.

But he didn't want that.

He wanted Eames. Plain and simple, he'd always wanted Eames. The truth was, all their baggage and history just made Arthur care even more about him; they had a past, a bond that had grown throughout years. There had been a time when Arthur had trusted Eames with anything, he would've protected Eames with his life, and a large part of him still felt that way. There'd been a time when he'd loved Eames with his whole being...he actually couldn't remember a time in their friendship when he hadn't.

Sometimes in his low moments he ran the idea through his head, if things had been different. If Arthur hadn't broken his arm been forced to sit alone on that bench watching the others play, if Eames hadn't moved to Arthur's area, if he'd gone to the other kids instead sitting and coming over to Arthur, how different would his life have been?

Honestly, if all that stuff had meant that he'd never had met Eames, that he'd never been in love like he had, that he'd never met Ariadne and Robert, then fuck that. Life wasn't perfect anyway, he wouldn't trade anything he had now for the world.

He had Maisy, Lily, Ariadne, Robert, he even had Eames for however long, it didn't matter, all that mattered was that he cherished the time together they had now.

Because if he knew life, it wouldn't be long before she bitched slapped him again.

Thanks for reading, following and reviewing! :D