[FIC]: I Will Title This Later (2)
that took longer than I thought! *___* unbetaed and things, as usual.
Title: I Will Title This Later (Part 2; Prompt: Biased)
Author: papered
Team: ROMAAAANCE
Prompt: Biased
Word count: 1766
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: In which Arthur is a university student, and Eames is that really famous actor who happens to be starting at the same university.
previously!
~
Arthur most definitely does not plan to knock on Eames' door, oh no. The first thing he does is crumple the note up and stuff it into the bottom of his bag (but only because he can't find a garbage can right now). As far as Arthur's concerned, there's no reason for him and Eames to interact again.
The second thing he does is rush off to architecture lecture. Because he's late.
After the three-hour lecture, Ariadne follows him out of the classroom, already chattering away. It's the only class they share, since Ariadne's a year younger than him and has different core courses. She'd managed to challenge the material for third year architecture at the start of term though, and so she'd ended up in the same lecture as Arthur.
They go to the student union building for lunch, where it's unusually crowded and the Subway line's twice as long as usual. Arthur's just managed to get to the front and is in the process of ordering when the girl behind the counter suddenly freezes.
"Um, hello?" Arthur says, resisting the impulse to wave a hand in front of her face. "I asked for no onions, please."
She still doesn't respond, and it takes Arthur a second longer to realize that she's staring over his shoulder.
"Oh my god, it's him," comes Ariadne's awed whisper from beside him. Excited whispers have broken out along the line.
With a sudden dread, Arthur's contemplating the wisdom of turning around when a hand lands on his shoulder.
"Arthur!" comes the English-accented voice from behind him. "Fancy running into you here!"
"Eames," Arthur bites out.
"Oh, were you ordering?" Eames asks, as if that's not completely obvious already. He smiles graciously at the girl who's still gaping at him from behind the counter, and Arthur watches in disgust as she practically swoons. "Be a dear and add the BLT combo to that? I'll pay for everything."
"I can pay for myself, thank you very much," Arthur cuts in heatedly. "And you can line up at the back like everyone else, Mr. Eames."
"Oh no, it's no trouble at all!" the girl says, seeming to finally wake from her stupor. "Such an honor to meet you, Mr. Eames!"
"Just call me Eames," Eames says to her with another one of his 1000-watt smiles, and Arthur is struck with the urge to punch him in his perfectly-formed nose.
"Let's go," he says to Ariadne, throwing down a $10 bill and grabbing his sandwich when it's finally made (and the lettuce and tomatoes are practically falling out, since the girl had been too busy making eyes at Eames instead of looking down at what she was doing) before storming away.
"You know Eames? He knew your name! How did this happen?"
"He'smyneighbour," Arthur mumbles into his Subway, determinedly not meeting Ariadne's eyes.
"What? I didn't catch that. Arthur, will you stop hiding in your food and answer my question?"
Arthur sighs. "I said he's my neighbour."
"What? Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"He's an arrogant dick," Arthur says, taking a vicious bite out of his Subway.
"And you know this, how?" Ariadne narrows her eyes. "Tell me everything! And don't leave anything out!"
Arthur sighs and dutifully tells her everything that had occurred. When he gets to the part about the note stuck on his door, Ariadne makes an incoherent sound.
"He likes you," she says, seemingly delighted.
Arthur doesn't understand her enthusiasm. "Yeah, I can see that - the same way he likes everyone with a pulse. He's a dick, Ariadne."
"But you only talked to him for a minute! Isn't that a bit soon to be making judgments?"
He hates it when she's reasonable. "Trust me, I can tell. Besides, weren't you the one telling me yesterday that he's a player?"
"Yeah, but that's probably all rumors. You can't just trust the paparazzi."
Arthur shrugs and takes another violent bite out of his Subway.
Part of the reason Arthur is so busy is because he's in about half a dozen clubs. Not that he really has time for them, but it's his last year at the university, i.e. his last chance to join all the ones he wants - and having that as a mantra during club promotion week meant that he'd signed up for far too many things. That, on top of all the student societies and clubs he'd already been a part of, means that he really has no time.
Wednesday evenings from 8 to 10 are for ballroom dancing classes down at the old History Center on the far side of campus. Dropping his bag off in his room as quickly as he can, he grabs his dance shoes before taking off at a sprint, knowing that he's late already. Arthur had been talked into joining during his second year of university - and by "talked into", what he really means is that he'd been perfectly happy left to his own devices when Ariadne had come along and forced him to sign up for the dance club with her. After the horror of those hip hop classes his mother had put him through during his formative years, Arthur had been surprised to find that he actually enjoyed ballroom - and more than that, he's actually good at it.
As he dashes into the auditorium-converted-into-a-ballroom, the instructor pauses to look at him. "Ah, look who's finally arrived!"
Arthur gives her an apologetic look as he slots himself into his usual spot across from Ariadne. "I'm sorry I'm late, Mal. I lost track of time."
"Are you always such a teacher's pet?" an amused voice comes from behind him, as Mal goes back to explaining the next step of the routine.
No way, he can't be here, Arthur thinks, sure that he's misheard as he whirls around - but no, there Eames is, standing a little to his left and looking far too pleased with himself.
Before Arthur can do more than glare though, Mal turns on the CD player and tango music fills the air. Lifting his hands automatically up into the proper position - left hand raised for Ariadne to place her hand on and right hand ready to wrap around her upper waist - Arthur scowls as he leads them through the routine. "What's he doing here," he hisses, nodding at Eames and the girl who's giggling in his arms as they sweep into a turn.
"He joined the dance club, obviously," Ariadne says, looking indecently happy at the thought.
"Yeah, but why is he in this class? Shouldn't he be with the newcomers?"
Ariadne looks at him blankly. "He knows how to dance already, Arthur - he was on Strictly Come Dancing all the time between his filming," she says accusingly, as if it's somehow unusual that Arthur can't recite every piece of information there is on Eames' previous work.
"How am I supposed to know that?" Arthur asks, and he would have complained some more, except Mal turns off the music and says things like no no, you must all point with your toe when you come out of your natural twist turns and I need a volunteer to demonstrate with me, come up here, Arthur!, and after that, Mal has them drilling some more and changing partners and Arthur doesn't get a chance to ask Ariadne anything else until the end of class, at which point he's genuinely exhausted. As everyone's heading out, he goes up to Mal to ask what the practice room schedules are going to be like for this term, but by the time he gets there, Eames is already there.
"I really appreciate you letting me test out of the newcomer level, Mal," Eames is saying.
"Well, you seem to be keeping up without any problems."
"It's been lovely so far." Eames gives her a beatific smile, and that alone should have put Arthur on alert. As it is, he doesn't realize that Eames had even noticed his presence until Eames continues, "Besides, I'm sure Arthur here won't mind giving me some pointers if I have any problems later."
To Arthur's horror, Mal nods. "That's a good idea, Eames. Arthur's very good, and he shouldn't have any problems catching you up if you need it - you don't mind, Arthur, do you?"
Considering how much time Mal had put in to help Arthur with extra drilling during practice hours the previous year, Arthur couldn't very well refuse her anything. Holding back a sigh, he nods.
"Is there a reason why you're incapable of leaving me alone?" he asks Eames later, as they're finally leaving the ballroom.
"It's called being friendly, darling."
"Well, you can be friendly with someone else then," Arthur says irritably. Ariadne is waiting for him at the building exit and she waves as he and Eames get closer. Arthur quickens his steps as he zips his jacket up all the way to the neck, and he's sweeping past Eames to join her when a hand on his arm stops him.
"Wait, weren't you going to help me with my dance steps?"
Arthur counts to ten slowly in his head, and then takes a deep breath. "You don't need any help, and you know it."
"How would you know? We only covered tango today. I might need your help with the cha cha." He says cha cha the same way other people might say hot kinky sex, and Arthur shakes his head in disgust.
"You were on a dance show. I doubt there's anything being taught that's not review for you." He realizes his mistake as soon as he says it, but by then it's too late.
Eames looks completely delighted with himself. "Arthur! You kept up with me? Darling, why didn't you tell me you were a fan?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Arthur bites back the instinct to explain that he only knows because of Ariadne - he doesn't want to sound too defensive. "Unlike you, some of us still have to study after this, so I'm leaving now."
"Arthur, wait, don't be so -"
"Good bye, Mr. Eames." Arthur says through clenched teeth. Eames still hasn't let go of his arm, but he pulls himself out of Eames' grip, and this time, Eames doesn't resist.
"What happened back there?" Ariadne says when he finally joins her. She looks back at Eames. "Is he okay? Did you say something? He looks kind of upset."
Ha, as if. "It's nothing. Let's just go," Arthur says, and determinedly doesn't look back as he pulls Ariadne along with him.
Title: I Will Title This Later (Part 2; Prompt: Biased)
Author: papered
Team: ROMAAAANCE
Prompt: Biased
Word count: 1766
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: In which Arthur is a university student, and Eames is that really famous actor who happens to be starting at the same university.
previously!
~
Arthur most definitely does not plan to knock on Eames' door, oh no. The first thing he does is crumple the note up and stuff it into the bottom of his bag (but only because he can't find a garbage can right now). As far as Arthur's concerned, there's no reason for him and Eames to interact again.
The second thing he does is rush off to architecture lecture. Because he's late.
After the three-hour lecture, Ariadne follows him out of the classroom, already chattering away. It's the only class they share, since Ariadne's a year younger than him and has different core courses. She'd managed to challenge the material for third year architecture at the start of term though, and so she'd ended up in the same lecture as Arthur.
They go to the student union building for lunch, where it's unusually crowded and the Subway line's twice as long as usual. Arthur's just managed to get to the front and is in the process of ordering when the girl behind the counter suddenly freezes.
"Um, hello?" Arthur says, resisting the impulse to wave a hand in front of her face. "I asked for no onions, please."
She still doesn't respond, and it takes Arthur a second longer to realize that she's staring over his shoulder.
"Oh my god, it's him," comes Ariadne's awed whisper from beside him. Excited whispers have broken out along the line.
With a sudden dread, Arthur's contemplating the wisdom of turning around when a hand lands on his shoulder.
"Arthur!" comes the English-accented voice from behind him. "Fancy running into you here!"
"Eames," Arthur bites out.
"Oh, were you ordering?" Eames asks, as if that's not completely obvious already. He smiles graciously at the girl who's still gaping at him from behind the counter, and Arthur watches in disgust as she practically swoons. "Be a dear and add the BLT combo to that? I'll pay for everything."
"I can pay for myself, thank you very much," Arthur cuts in heatedly. "And you can line up at the back like everyone else, Mr. Eames."
"Oh no, it's no trouble at all!" the girl says, seeming to finally wake from her stupor. "Such an honor to meet you, Mr. Eames!"
"Just call me Eames," Eames says to her with another one of his 1000-watt smiles, and Arthur is struck with the urge to punch him in his perfectly-formed nose.
"Let's go," he says to Ariadne, throwing down a $10 bill and grabbing his sandwich when it's finally made (and the lettuce and tomatoes are practically falling out, since the girl had been too busy making eyes at Eames instead of looking down at what she was doing) before storming away.
"You know Eames? He knew your name! How did this happen?"
"He'smyneighbour," Arthur mumbles into his Subway, determinedly not meeting Ariadne's eyes.
"What? I didn't catch that. Arthur, will you stop hiding in your food and answer my question?"
Arthur sighs. "I said he's my neighbour."
"What? Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"He's an arrogant dick," Arthur says, taking a vicious bite out of his Subway.
"And you know this, how?" Ariadne narrows her eyes. "Tell me everything! And don't leave anything out!"
Arthur sighs and dutifully tells her everything that had occurred. When he gets to the part about the note stuck on his door, Ariadne makes an incoherent sound.
"He likes you," she says, seemingly delighted.
Arthur doesn't understand her enthusiasm. "Yeah, I can see that - the same way he likes everyone with a pulse. He's a dick, Ariadne."
"But you only talked to him for a minute! Isn't that a bit soon to be making judgments?"
He hates it when she's reasonable. "Trust me, I can tell. Besides, weren't you the one telling me yesterday that he's a player?"
"Yeah, but that's probably all rumors. You can't just trust the paparazzi."
Arthur shrugs and takes another violent bite out of his Subway.
Part of the reason Arthur is so busy is because he's in about half a dozen clubs. Not that he really has time for them, but it's his last year at the university, i.e. his last chance to join all the ones he wants - and having that as a mantra during club promotion week meant that he'd signed up for far too many things. That, on top of all the student societies and clubs he'd already been a part of, means that he really has no time.
Wednesday evenings from 8 to 10 are for ballroom dancing classes down at the old History Center on the far side of campus. Dropping his bag off in his room as quickly as he can, he grabs his dance shoes before taking off at a sprint, knowing that he's late already. Arthur had been talked into joining during his second year of university - and by "talked into", what he really means is that he'd been perfectly happy left to his own devices when Ariadne had come along and forced him to sign up for the dance club with her. After the horror of those hip hop classes his mother had put him through during his formative years, Arthur had been surprised to find that he actually enjoyed ballroom - and more than that, he's actually good at it.
As he dashes into the auditorium-converted-into-a-ballroom, the instructor pauses to look at him. "Ah, look who's finally arrived!"
Arthur gives her an apologetic look as he slots himself into his usual spot across from Ariadne. "I'm sorry I'm late, Mal. I lost track of time."
"Are you always such a teacher's pet?" an amused voice comes from behind him, as Mal goes back to explaining the next step of the routine.
No way, he can't be here, Arthur thinks, sure that he's misheard as he whirls around - but no, there Eames is, standing a little to his left and looking far too pleased with himself.
Before Arthur can do more than glare though, Mal turns on the CD player and tango music fills the air. Lifting his hands automatically up into the proper position - left hand raised for Ariadne to place her hand on and right hand ready to wrap around her upper waist - Arthur scowls as he leads them through the routine. "What's he doing here," he hisses, nodding at Eames and the girl who's giggling in his arms as they sweep into a turn.
"He joined the dance club, obviously," Ariadne says, looking indecently happy at the thought.
"Yeah, but why is he in this class? Shouldn't he be with the newcomers?"
Ariadne looks at him blankly. "He knows how to dance already, Arthur - he was on Strictly Come Dancing all the time between his filming," she says accusingly, as if it's somehow unusual that Arthur can't recite every piece of information there is on Eames' previous work.
"How am I supposed to know that?" Arthur asks, and he would have complained some more, except Mal turns off the music and says things like no no, you must all point with your toe when you come out of your natural twist turns and I need a volunteer to demonstrate with me, come up here, Arthur!, and after that, Mal has them drilling some more and changing partners and Arthur doesn't get a chance to ask Ariadne anything else until the end of class, at which point he's genuinely exhausted. As everyone's heading out, he goes up to Mal to ask what the practice room schedules are going to be like for this term, but by the time he gets there, Eames is already there.
"I really appreciate you letting me test out of the newcomer level, Mal," Eames is saying.
"Well, you seem to be keeping up without any problems."
"It's been lovely so far." Eames gives her a beatific smile, and that alone should have put Arthur on alert. As it is, he doesn't realize that Eames had even noticed his presence until Eames continues, "Besides, I'm sure Arthur here won't mind giving me some pointers if I have any problems later."
To Arthur's horror, Mal nods. "That's a good idea, Eames. Arthur's very good, and he shouldn't have any problems catching you up if you need it - you don't mind, Arthur, do you?"
Considering how much time Mal had put in to help Arthur with extra drilling during practice hours the previous year, Arthur couldn't very well refuse her anything. Holding back a sigh, he nods.
"Is there a reason why you're incapable of leaving me alone?" he asks Eames later, as they're finally leaving the ballroom.
"It's called being friendly, darling."
"Well, you can be friendly with someone else then," Arthur says irritably. Ariadne is waiting for him at the building exit and she waves as he and Eames get closer. Arthur quickens his steps as he zips his jacket up all the way to the neck, and he's sweeping past Eames to join her when a hand on his arm stops him.
"Wait, weren't you going to help me with my dance steps?"
Arthur counts to ten slowly in his head, and then takes a deep breath. "You don't need any help, and you know it."
"How would you know? We only covered tango today. I might need your help with the cha cha." He says cha cha the same way other people might say hot kinky sex, and Arthur shakes his head in disgust.
"You were on a dance show. I doubt there's anything being taught that's not review for you." He realizes his mistake as soon as he says it, but by then it's too late.
Eames looks completely delighted with himself. "Arthur! You kept up with me? Darling, why didn't you tell me you were a fan?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Arthur bites back the instinct to explain that he only knows because of Ariadne - he doesn't want to sound too defensive. "Unlike you, some of us still have to study after this, so I'm leaving now."
"Arthur, wait, don't be so -"
"Good bye, Mr. Eames." Arthur says through clenched teeth. Eames still hasn't let go of his arm, but he pulls himself out of Eames' grip, and this time, Eames doesn't resist.
"What happened back there?" Ariadne says when he finally joins her. She looks back at Eames. "Is he okay? Did you say something? He looks kind of upset."
Ha, as if. "It's nothing. Let's just go," Arthur says, and determinedly doesn't look back as he pulls Ariadne along with him.