ruffians | #vampireproblems

Well I'm not moving.

[Arthur laughs affectionately.]

That's not what I'm asking.

[God, he really is tired. Eames pulls a face, thinking on it for a moment, and rolls back onto his side so he can throw an arm over Arthur.]

Like I said.

[Arthur turns onto his side as well to gaze at Eames. He's a bit nervous that Eames is finally going to come to his senses and tell him to get out, but for how he decides he's just going to enjoy the moment and try to sleep. He's only been sleeping out of pure exhaustion lately.]

[Eames closes his eyes with a tired smile, ready to put this last week behind him and move on. Tomorrow he'll put all his stuff back where it was and it'll be like none of this ever happened.]

[Except he can't seem to actually sleep. Without anything else to focus on, all Eames has is his own thoughts. Turns out his thoughts are still pretty pissed off, and every time he opens his eyes and sees Arthur there it just gets worse. Eames tries turning over, see if not facing Arthur helps any, but it doesn't. He spends a good couple of hours like this, trying to will himself to sleep, but it doesn't work.]

[Eventually Eames concedes that he's not sleeping anytime soon and gets out of the bed to pad along to the bathroom. He turns on the shower, thinking a hot shower will help one way or the other, and takes the bandage off his neck. It's healing well, he decides, inspecting it in the mirror. Good thing something is.]

[Arthur wakes up when Eames gets out of bed. At first he thinks he's just getting up to go to the bathroom, but then he hears the shower come on, and he gets curious. Part of him warns that maybe Eames needs some space, but the rest of him hates to let something sit for too long. After a few minutes he gets up and follows Eames to the washroom, standing outside the door for a second listening before he knocks gently talks in a voice just loud enough for Eames to hear if he's already in the shower.]

Everything alright?

[Eames opens the door and tries to put on a smile for Arthur, but it doesn't really work. He's too tired to fake being okay right now.]

I couldn't sleep. [And he frowns a little.] Did I wake you up?

Yeah, but it's okay.

[He frowns and looks away. He probably shouldn't have interrupted him.]

Just making sure.

[It's a frown club. Normally Eames would invite Arthur to join him but even if they've spent the night pretending otherwise, things are still far from normal. He glances back into the bathroom instead, feeling uncomfortably awkward all of a sudden.]

I'll, uh... I'll be back out soon.

[Arthur considers pushing the issue but instead he clenches his jaw and nods.]

Yeah, no rush.

[And he turns away from the door, presumably back to Eames' room so he can lay back down, but he's probably not going to sleep again. In fact, instead of sleeping he goes to his own room, looking down at his sheets. They've been washed, obviously, but they don't feel clean. So obviously they have to go in the basket. And everything else in this room seems tainted so he probably needs to do a few loads of laundry.]

[Eames spends a while in the shower, letting the hiss of the water drown out his thoughts and the hot water on his skin relax his muscles. He's not sure how long he actually spends in there, around half an hour maybe, but when he steps out he feels... Well he doesn't exactly feel better, but he feels refreshed. Which is something.]

[He comes back to his room, and there's a moment where he assumes Arthur's just run off again. Decided that this is too much or he's too dangerous or some other excuse for being a 300 year-old trainwreck, but he pushes that aside because it's probably ridiculous.]

[It takes some thought on Eames' part before he decides to wander across to Arthur's room, pushing the door open after another moment or so of considering his options. He could just go back to bed and pretend he hasn't noticed anything off, but after all the grief it took just to get Arthur to come back in the first place, he decides it's best to just ask.]

What are you doing?

[Arthur heard Eames come out of the shower and assumed it was only a matter of time before he came to see what was happening, so he's not surprised when Eames comes into his room. He glances up from what he's doing briefly and sighs.]

I couldn't sleeping and everything in here smells... [He glances in Eames direction and wisely decided not to say that it smells like his blood wasn't completely cleaned out of the clothes or the sheets and has been sitting there for a week] well, it smells bad.

[Even if Arthur doesn't say it, Eames gets the gist and his expression falters. What exactly can he say to that anyway? 'Here, let me gelp you clean the smell of my blood out of your room'? No way.]

[It makes him uncomfortable either way, and it shows in the way he folds his arms and looks away with a frown.]

So you're going to wash everything?

[He shrugs. He's restless and aimless as he moves around, occasionally throwing something into a pile of clothes that needs to be cleaned or throwing something he left out in a drawer.]

I told you, I couldn't sleep. It has to get done at some point.

[It makes sense, Eames can't really begrudge him that, but he still has a deep frown on his face as he watches Arthur go about all this. He puts a hand on his neck, the way one might to scratch an itch idly, palm pressed against the bite while he tries to think of what to say or do. ]

Nothing's stained though, right?

[He's trying, okay.]

Not that I can see...

[He shrugs again and looks up at Eames, giving him a brief and tight smile as he sighs and finally stands still like he's done.]

I'll deal with it tomorrow. I just got distracted while you were in the shower.

It's fine, I just...

[Eames lets out a noise that's something between a sigh and a laugh, gaze looking around the room at anything other than Arthur. This is dumb and he feels embarrassed by his feelings, but they're not going away on their own.]

I just wanted to make sure you hadn't left again.

No.

[He says it like it's an admission, like somehow what he did is worse. He knows it's not but he hates that he ruined the mood by coming in here and messing around with all this shit. He gives Eames another smile, but this one is tired and helpless.]

Unless you tell me to go, I'm staying.

Good thing that's not happening.

[Eames's expression is tired more than anything, but it's true he has zero intention of telling Arthur to leave. He leans against the doorframe and looks around the room, trying to maintain something impassive even though he can't rightly bring himself to actually go in before he settles his eyes back on Arthur.]

I just wish it really was this easy.

[Arthur looks around at his room, nodding slowly. If only going scorched earth on this place would fix thing, but he knows it won't.]

Me too.

I don't know if I've ever been as mad at anyone as I am at you.

[He says it softly, like the statement doesn't carry as much weight as it does. Honestly the words are kind of lacking for what he's feeling. Eames swallows, looking down for a moment and then back at Arthur with a sigh.]

I thought it'd be enough, just getting you to come back, but it's not. And I don't know what is.

[That makes him feel like shit. For doing what he did, for leaving, for just being what he is. It doesn't help that it's fair for Eames to feel this way and he can't just start a fight about it. It's always easier when they can just fight.]

[He sighs.]

I didn't see a way around this either. That's why I left.

[He wanders over to lean on his dresser.]

I don't know, maybe we just need to... talk.

[Eames wrinkles his nose in distaste at the mention of talking, he's a much bigger fan of snide comments and then fucking when everything gets too het up. They both are, it works pretty well for them. Usually.]

Maybe. [He sighs softly.] We could try pretending nothing's wrong for another day instead?

[It's a joke. He knows they can't.]

[Arthur makes an amused sound through his nose as he shakes his head. He thinks for another moment about what he's about to say, about whether he's just putting his foot in his mouth again, so when he talks he sounds careful.]

I did something really awful to you, and then I made it worse by leaving when you needed someone here. I can tell you I didn't mean it until the sun comes up but it still happened.

Yeah, and it's why I'm still pissed at you, but I don't want it to be like that for... Who knows how long.

[It's exhausting holding on to his feelings this long, no wonder he never does it.]

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