Fic: No Enemy But Time
Title: No Enemy But Time
Author: loceheri
Team: Romance <3
Prompt: Innocence
Word Count:447
Rating: G
Warnings: bb!Eames and bb!Arthur, adorableness
A/N: Title from the William Butler Yeats quote: "The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time."
Increasingly, when Ariadne picks up Eames from kindergarten to watch him until his mother gets home from work, she has Arthur with her. Ariadne used to watch Arthur only rarely, now it's almost every day.
Eames, aged five, resents this, because he is a big boy and too old to be interested in Arthur, who is only three and still sucks his thumb when he takes a nap. Also, Arthur follows Eames around with his wide, dark eyes and his soft, fine hair that falls in his face but he never says much.
Eames is smart and observant for a five year old. He knows this, because his teacher told him so and his Mum told him what "observant" meant, when he asked. So when he wakes from his nap to find Arthur's eyes already open, he can tell something is wrong. Arthur is lying on his stomach, apparently unmoved from when he woke. They both nap on Ariadne's bed, so Eames is right beside him.
"Eames? What's a divorce?" he asks, soft and scared of the answer.
Eames knows a girl in his class whose parents got a divorce. She had cried in class, twice, right in front of everyone. Eames had felt bad for her.
"It's when someone's Mum and Dad don't live together anymore." There's something more to it than that, he knows, but that's bad enough on it's own and he doesn't really understand the rest himself."
Arthur's lip quivers. "If Mommy and Daddy don't live together, who's going to take of me?" he whispers.
Eames runs a small hand through Arthur's hair and leans over to kiss Arthur on the forehead, like he's seen Arthur's mum do. "I'll take care of you," he promises seriously.
Arthur blinks in surprise. He's too young to understand, Eames thinks. But his lip does stop quivering and the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile. He scrambles to his knees and kisses Eames right on the mouth. "Thank you."
Eames would never tolerate such foolishness as kissing from his mother but Arthur is sad right now, so Eames cuts him some slack. He pets Arthur's hair until the younger boy is asleep again.
Eames feels older, feels responsible for Arthur, feels sad that Arthur is going to have to do a lot of growing up very quickly, feels determined to grow up even quicker, so that Arthur can stay just like he is for as long as possible.
He hears Ariadne talking to someone, and knows their mothers are there to pick them up. Careful not to wake Arthur, he heads into the living room to ask if Arthur can come over this weekend.
Author: loceheri
Team: Romance <3
Prompt: Innocence
Word Count:447
Rating: G
Warnings: bb!Eames and bb!Arthur, adorableness
A/N: Title from the William Butler Yeats quote: "The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time."
Increasingly, when Ariadne picks up Eames from kindergarten to watch him until his mother gets home from work, she has Arthur with her. Ariadne used to watch Arthur only rarely, now it's almost every day.
Eames, aged five, resents this, because he is a big boy and too old to be interested in Arthur, who is only three and still sucks his thumb when he takes a nap. Also, Arthur follows Eames around with his wide, dark eyes and his soft, fine hair that falls in his face but he never says much.
Eames is smart and observant for a five year old. He knows this, because his teacher told him so and his Mum told him what "observant" meant, when he asked. So when he wakes from his nap to find Arthur's eyes already open, he can tell something is wrong. Arthur is lying on his stomach, apparently unmoved from when he woke. They both nap on Ariadne's bed, so Eames is right beside him.
"Eames? What's a divorce?" he asks, soft and scared of the answer.
Eames knows a girl in his class whose parents got a divorce. She had cried in class, twice, right in front of everyone. Eames had felt bad for her.
"It's when someone's Mum and Dad don't live together anymore." There's something more to it than that, he knows, but that's bad enough on it's own and he doesn't really understand the rest himself."
Arthur's lip quivers. "If Mommy and Daddy don't live together, who's going to take of me?" he whispers.
Eames runs a small hand through Arthur's hair and leans over to kiss Arthur on the forehead, like he's seen Arthur's mum do. "I'll take care of you," he promises seriously.
Arthur blinks in surprise. He's too young to understand, Eames thinks. But his lip does stop quivering and the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile. He scrambles to his knees and kisses Eames right on the mouth. "Thank you."
Eames would never tolerate such foolishness as kissing from his mother but Arthur is sad right now, so Eames cuts him some slack. He pets Arthur's hair until the younger boy is asleep again.
Eames feels older, feels responsible for Arthur, feels sad that Arthur is going to have to do a lot of growing up very quickly, feels determined to grow up even quicker, so that Arthur can stay just like he is for as long as possible.
He hears Ariadne talking to someone, and knows their mothers are there to pick them up. Careful not to wake Arthur, he heads into the living room to ask if Arthur can come over this weekend.