[rl - Making Up Is Hard to Do]

[notjustathief]

Eames hated this.

It had been over a week since he'd talked to Arthur, and that included even small, meaningless exchanges like "Pass the coffee pot". Granted, it was his own damned fault -- he'd asked for space to calm down, and Arthur had given it to him. But now the absence was driving him insane.

What had happened wasn't Arthur's fault -- he knew that. But he'd been angry and there wasn't anyone to blame -- or, rather, anyone to take out his anger on. And he knew that if he lashed out at Arthur, he'd say or do something he'd regret, and that taking time to cool off would be wiser in the long run.

Still. He could tell Arthur'd been hurt by it.

He couldn't sleep that night and found himself nursing a bottle of ale in the kitchen some time after midnight. There was a silly, nagging thought of just going into Arthur's room and curling up with him like nothing was wrong, but that was foolish -- as much as he might miss the other man, all it'd do would disturb him.

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[p_a_r_a_d_o_x]

He tried to give the other man as much space as he needed, which Arthur imagined it would be a lot of it. He tried to be patient, waiting for Eames to actually come to him and tell him all their relationship was over or just act like nothing was wrong again. When none of those two things happened he decided to focus more on the paperwork and ignore the nagging feeling at the back of your mind that thing weren't going to get fixed at all.

He was worried, and a worried Arthur meant one that could make big mistake and one that was not enjoyable to have around. He avoided the rest of the team for that reason and worked until late night, but he needed a break too. He walked into the kitchen, distractedly looking for some coffee even if there were already dark circles under his eyes.

[notjustathief]

Eames blinked as Arthur walked into the kitchen, and it took him a second to realize that he must not have seen him sitting there. Something in his chest ached, and he found that whatever anger he felt was gone -- he just missed Arthur and wanted to pretend the whole stupid thing had never happened.

"Hey," he said, his voice quite so as not to startle him.

[p_a_r_a_d_o_x]

Arthur didn't notice the forget until his voice interrupted his train of thought. He turned and gave Eames an odd look,like a deer in headlights.

"Oh, hello. I didn't knew..." Of course he didn't knew. He had been awfully unaware of half of the things around him those days.He berated himself for that, he was supposed to notice things, to be prepared. "Sorry. I will go back to my room soon I just wanted some coffee."

[notjustathief]

"You don't need to leave," Eames said quickly, and he felt a pang of guilt at Arthur's obvious discomfort. He still loved the other man like mad, and he didn't like the idea of Arthur being so uncomfortable around him. "I mean...stay? If you want to."

[p_a_r_a_d_o_x]

"I will stay if you really want me too." He'd really like that. He couldn't help but feel q guilty every time he looked at the other man.

Arthur hadn't been feeling well for quite some time and things just seemed to get worse and worse. Eames presence was enough to calm him down and he moved closer to the other man. "Missed you..."

[notjustathief]

"I've missed you, too," he said, quiet. Something in him felt lighter at seeing Arthur moving closer, at seeing him reach for a reconciliation. Eames barely hesitated before he shifted to close the gap between them, loosely wrapping his arms around the other man's back.

He sighed before leaning his head against Arthur's shoulder. "I'm sorry. For leaving you alone all this time. I was just pissed off and the last thing I wanted was for you to get the brunt of it when it wasn't your fault."

[p_a_r_a_d_o_x]

It was Arthur turn to hesitate but he finally moved his hand up to Eames's neck and lowered his face.

"Don't apologize, I know you needed space after what I did, I don't blame you." The 'it wasn't your fault' part he's not even going to mention. He disagrees with that.