InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "like you're cooler than me."

ariadne (labyrinthine) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-06-14 10:49:00

Entry tags:

!closed, ariadne, arthur, eames

Who: Ariadne, Eames, and Arthur
Where: Arthur and Ariadne's place
When: Some hours after Glory goes down
What: Everybody comes back eventually in Colligo.
Rating: Expect man-tears and possibly some cursing.
Status: Closed, in progress

For all that she'd been in Colligo almost a year now, Ariadne had really been rather lucky. This was only the first time she'd died, and in this city that was rather remarkable. Perhaps the law of averages had to kick in eventually. It was even worse for being a case of mistaken identity, though Ariadne would gladly have suffered in Juno's place. Well. Had suffered. Hopefully the other girl hadn't been caught as well. But since Colligo appeared to be mostly intact Ariadne could guess that the walls of reality had remained unripped by the use of a mystical girl-shaped key. What had happened to her was still somewhat fuzzy. Glory had been demanding information she didn't know, and then seemed to grow bored, and all Ariadne had had time to think was that she hoped Eames had had time to get away, and then - then she'd been waking up at the library, same as the day she'd been brought here for the first time. The guards didn't need to hustle her out. She was out the door as fast as her feet could carry her.

Ariadne didn't stop to call ahead, which was probably a poor decision. But she didn't want to call and have to wait, she wanted to get home as soon as she possibly could. Possibly someone could have brought her home faster but she was already halfway there by the time the thought occurred to her. All she could think about was how Arthur and Eames might have reacted to her death. She hoped desperately that they hadn't done something stupid. As much as she loved them, she really hoped that they'd been sensible enough to not go on some suicidal revenge mission. Neither of them had been at the library but that didn't necessarily mean anything.

Six flights of stairs flew by under her feet, and soon she was letting herself into her flat - apartment, she'd clearly spent too much time with Eames if she was thinking of it as a flat - and hoping her boys were there. It wasn't a term she ever spoke aloud, but in her heart she secretly thought of them as her boys. And she was theirs. Now if only they were actually home. "Guys?"

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dream_bigger
2011-06-14 09:48 pm UTC (link)

Eames was tired and sore and in desperate need of tea. He couldn't stop his mind from working overtime, though. He had nothing to distract himself with, now that Glory was gone and there was no more need for buildings to be demolished, so he was unable to stop going over his memories in a never-ending loop.

Arthur had gone for a shower, but Eames just stayed slumped on the couch and stared out the window (well, as best he could, given that one eye was still swollen shut. He hadn't even thought to take another one of Sirius' potions to heal himself up) for about ten minutes after that. He didn't fidget, he didn't jiggle his knee up and down, he didn't even bite his nails. He just lay there and tried to slow down his thoughts. Eventually, he decided that since it wasn't going to happen any time soon, he was going to make tea.

He stared down at his hands as the kettle boiled, only thinking to get a mug and teabag when it started to squeal. He had just started to pour the water in when the front door opened. His head snapped round at the sound of it, and he stayed absolutely still until he heard Ariadne's voice. And then his mug overflowed with boiling water and scalded his hand and started to drip onto his bare feet so he jumped back with a yelp just as he dropped the kettle, which wasn't good for anything or anyone, to be honest. Still, he didn't really give a fuck about kettles or tea or scalded bits of skin, not any more.

He had intended to run up and grab her and swing her round and round until she was dizzy, or perhaps kiss her until it produced a similar effect, but he got as far as the kitchen doorway and had to stop so that he could look at her and take in the fact that she was standing there, breathing and completely uninjured and alive after almost a week. And he had to shove his sore hand into his armpit as well to try and stop it hurting. Sure, he knew first aid, but this was far more important.

"Hello, love," he said with a smile, ignoring the split in his lip, "Welcome back."

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labyrinthine
2011-06-14 10:06 pm UTC (link)

The clatter from the kitchen drew her towards the doorway, but when Eames appeared she stopped short just to look back and not be overwhelmed by relief. Eames was alive. Looking somewhat the worse for wear, maybe, but he was alive, he hadn't been taken by Glory or had his brain sucked out or killed and not brought back. Ariadne let out a breath and gave him a wobbly smile back. "Hi." She wasn't going to cry. Instead, she looked at his pose and then past him, trying to see what had happened in the kitchen to make such a noise. "What the hell happened to you?" As she spoke she walked closer, finally stopping in front of him to reach up and touch his lip. "You didn't go on some insane revenge mission, did you?" Ariadne was determinedly ignoring the tears that were threatening to spill over. He was there and she was back and that had to be Arthur running the shower, and it was all going to be okay.

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dream_bigger
2011-06-14 10:31 pm UTC (link)

"I scalded my hand," he replied with a shrug, "and dropped the kettle. So I'll get you a new one." He reached up and caught her hand, then kissed her fingertips. "Of course we didn't go on some insane revenge mission. It was all very well planned, brilliantly executed and resulted in there being three less buildings in this shithole than there were when you were last here. And it led to that bitch being killed, along with all her stinking little minions, so I really wouldn't complain about it. But that explains the rest of the injuries I have now."

He kissed the palm of her hand after that, and then the pulse-point on her wrist, and then he pulled her in close and hugged her as tight as he could without actually hurting her. "Don't you ever do that to us again, alright? I... you... just don't. You're not allowed to die, you hear me?" he muttered, then ducked his head down to kiss her properly. Pulling back after about a minute, he brought both hands up to her face and pressed his forehead against hers. "You do as you're told, alright? Just this one thing, that's all. You don't do that, not ever. Oh, fucking hell..."

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labyrinthine
2011-06-14 11:01 pm UTC (link)

"I won't complain, then," she said in response to his explanation, already leaning towards him. Somehow the fact that they'd blown up three buildings didn't surprise her. And right now she couldn't particularly bring herself to care. Perhaps it was a bit of an overreaction. On the other hand, they'd been up against a hell god, and if it had helped rid the city of that maniac Ariadne would have to be glad of it.

And finally, inexorably, she was wrapping her arms around Eames's broad chest and turning her face into his shirt as he held her so close it was just this side of painful. Not that she would have minded a cracked rib or two if it came this way. "I'll try not to," she managed, seeing his own eyes fill with tears he was probably pretending weren't there. "I didn't do it on purpose, you know that." Another tremulous smile appeared on her face and she closed her eyes as he rested his forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to leave you behind. But I came back, I'm here now. It's okay." She tipped her face just enough to kiss him again, tongue flicking past the split in his lip, then tucked her head under his chin and just let herself rest against him.

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the_pointman
2011-06-22 03:39 am UTC (link)

Arthur had been taking a shower. A long one. The past few days he'd spent focusing on the fight, the explosions he'd set up, killing that bitch of a helldemon. He'd been able to distract himself. But now that he and Eames were back home, there was only so much to focus himself on. Arthur wasn't about to shortchange how much Eames meant to him, but he knew there was a gaping hole in their lives now. It was large enough that Arthur had started to cry again in the shower.

He felt pathetic. Small. He'd helped to kill something terrible but he felt like he hadn't done more then what he could have. He wasn't able to save her.

After pulling himself together, Arthur turned off the water with his now extremely pruned hand. He wrapped his towel around his waist and stopped cold in his tracks.

Was that-

He pulled out his glasses, as it would take too long to put in his contacts, and rushed out the door. His wet hair curled around his ears and temples, he was dripping all over the carpet and his glasses were fogged up from the change in temperature... But there she was.

Arthur wasn't entirely sure what to do initially. But he went with his first instinct and pulled her over. Pulled them both over. He didn't care how indecent he was, all he wanted was to hold the two figurative pieces of his heart close to him and not let them go.

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labyrinthine
2011-06-22 09:55 pm UTC (link)

Ariadne was too wrapped up in Eames, both literally and metaphorically, to notice the sound of the shower stopping. She didn't hear Arthur enter the room, either; her instincts weren't as finely honed as either of the men's and she didn't have the hair-trigger reflexes they did. But she definitely noticed when a lean, strong and very wet arm gathered her against an equally wet and very naked chest.

"Arthur?" She shifted and got an arm free to wrap around him, going up on her tiptoes and digging her chin into his shoulder. She was getting soaked and she didn't care at all. "Oh, fuck, Arthur..." As she pulled back just enough for a kiss, she could see his glasses - and his reddened eyes behind those. And now she really was going to lose it, tears finally spilling over as she pressed herself into the space between Arthur and Eames. This was where she belonged, and she didn't want to leave them ever again if she could help it.

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