InsaneJournal

Who: Younger Eames and Ariadne
What: Making new memories! *ahem*
When: Right after this, 8th August 2011
Where: Roof of building A
Warning: omg kissing
Status: Complete/Closed



Danny was on the roof, exercising. He’d already gone for his run in the morning, the five miles over and done with before the clock struck 0700 hours, and then he’d gone back for a quick shower and to make breakfast for everyone. After that, he’d dicked about a bit, checking the network on the really fucking cool mobile phone thing for a while or poking through all the stuff in the main room of the flat, but after an hour or so, he’d decided to finish the rest of his workout.

He had worked out that with all the previously-mentioned stuff in Ariadne and Arthur’s place, not to mention the three of them staying there, there really wasn’t enough room for him to do any exercising at all. He wasn’t overly fond of the flat that was supposedly his, so he didn’t fancy going in there. No, instead, he’d grabbed a couple of bottles of water and a towel, headed up the stairs to the roof, and discovered that it was almost perfect. No real place for doing pull-ups, and he didn’t have any weights available but he could get that sorted later, maybe even try to look for a gym. In the meantime, he worked out a fairly decent circuits routine, set his watch’s timer to go off every minute for 45 minutes and then started.

Ariadne had gotten up to make coffee and then gone back to bed when she was finished, and somehow she'd managed to miss Eames - Danny, rather. And for whatever reason she hadn't gone right out to talk to him. Nervousness, maybe. Adjusting to not being seven and having her last memories being the young soldier carry her into her room. And if she took a few minutes more to brush her hair when she finally got out of bed, well, that was entirely unrelated. She did hear him shout about going up to the roof, so when she'd picked at the breakfast he'd left and gotten herself reasonably presentable (that is, put on some shorts and a fresh tank top) she followed him up the stairs.

When she opened the door and stepped through, she almost dropped her coffee. Danny was doing some sort of twisty leg-lift thing that was showing off his physique to its best advantage. And while he might not have been as broad as the Eames she knew so well, seeing every line of musculature revealed as he moved and turned was definitely... appealing. But she recovered, and when he turned at the noise of the door closing she managed to keep her expression tamed to a smirk.

"Oh, don't stop on my account," she called out, leaning against the wall and enjoying the view.

Danny had been about to switch into a minute's worth of push-ups when he'd heard the snick of the door closing. Looking round, he grinned when he saw who it was. Fucking hell, she'd grown up well.

He ignored her request and switched off his watch before lifting one of the waters and walking over towards her. He pulled the hem of his tee-shirt up to wipe his face as he walked, since he’d forgotten to lift his towel, then realised it was already a bit vile. He hadn't been going all that long, five minutes at the most, so he wasn't entirely disgusting, but it was already quite warm for all that it was the morning so he was more than a bit sweaty. He opened the bottle and drank about a third of it, then stopped in front of his friend, putting the bottle down on the roof before he did anything else.

"Good morning," he said, then chewed a bit on his lower lip before rubbing at his nose. "This is a bit weird for me, because. Uhm. Have you spoken to Arthur at all?"

Ariadne was openly gawking as he pulled his shirt up. Yeah, this was definitely not a bad change. Not at all. Even if he was sweating. And she couldn't help smiling when he rubbed his nose; some nervous habits never changed, she supposed. He just got better at hiding them.

"I haven't, no," she said, sipping at her coffee. "He keeps odd hours, working nights at the casino and all. Why, was there something he was meant to pass along?" Just how much had Arthur told him about them and their relationship? No wonder he was twitchy.

“No, nothing like that, he just. He said that we’re... together? All three of us? and that’s pretty cool, and I’ve seen photographs of all of us, but, uh. I know you’re not, believe me, I know, but,” and he paused and ducked his head as he stumbled through what had to be the worst explanation for something he’d ever given. “In my head, you’re seven. It’s kind of weird,” he admitted, “because you’re, you look amazing and you’re, well. Arthur’s crazy about you, that much is obvious and he’s... He’s Arthur, y’know? I mean, I know I don’t really know him at the moment, but I know enough to get that if he’s crazy over you, you’re something fairly fucking special indeed... but I keep expecting you to ask for a piggy-back, which, you know, that’s cool, but, uh...”

He looked up after that and chewed on his thumbnail before reaching over to brush a few stray locks of hair away from her face without even thinking about it.

That definitely wasn't the response she'd been expecting. More bashfulness, maybe, or resistance to the idea of a triad. But this was still Daniel Eames, for all that he was still wet behind the ears - and it was funny how she kept thinking of him as younger and less experienced when they were now exactly the same age. He clearly hadn't gained all of his open-mindedness and flexibility after he left the army, it would've been stupid to think so. And he was praising her to the skies and talking about how wonderful Arthur thought she was, and since she wasn't made of stone it was hard not to be affected. But being unable to stop thinking of her as a child... well, okay, that was kind of funny, and she hid her grin in her coffee cup.

"I can see how that must be confusing for you," she said finally, holding herself still and not leaning into his touch like she normally would have. Best not to confuse the issue if he was already conflicted, right? Even if he was flattering her and talking about how lovely she was. "Will it help if I don't ask for a ride?" Okay, she couldn't not smirk after that. Because Danny looked really good and he was right there and all sweaty and male and... yeah.

He wouldn’t have done anything if she hadn’t smirked, he told himself later. But she did, and he automatically grinned in response, glancing away to the side for a moment before he looked back at her. “Oh, yes, that’s helpful. Really,” he told her, then moved in a bit closer to her as he kept playing with her hair. He combed his fingers through it, then let his hand rest against the side of her neck as he quickly studied her face, noting that, while he could still recognise the little girl he had known in the young woman in front of him, her features were more than unfamiliar enough to stop him feeling like some sort of creeper for even beginning to consider what he was thinking about.

“What would really help, I reckon, would be to come up with new memories for me. I’ve got a few ideas, but if you’ve any suggestions, I’m all ears.”

That grin was so familiar that she had to smother a laugh. It was the sort of open, unguarded expression of delight she only saw rarely, when the three of them were alone. It made her think of dreaming. And he was still fascinated by her hair. So really, things hadn't changed that much. Or they wouldn't change, rather, since this was the younger version. "I'm a very helpful person," she informed him, attempting to hide her smile.

And then he had his fingers on her neck and she couldn't help but shiver despite the very warm morning. "Oh, really? That's quite a line, I commend you for your creativity." Even as she said it, she brought one hand up and ran it over the back of his arm, fingers trailing lightly over his bicep and up to his shoulder. "And I think I could come up with some possibilities."

“I have been told that I’ve got quite the imagination,” he replied, “but even so, I was thinking that we could start with a fairly obvious idea.” He ran his thumb over her cheek as he spoke, before he leant in and kissed her without any more fuss. His free hand moved to rest against her hip, then round to the small of her back and gradually moved up her back as they continued to kiss, stopping between her shoulder blades and holding her close.

As much as she'd been looking forward to this, and deliberately provoking this response, Ariadne found the experience of kissing Danny more than a little strange. It was Eames - but it wasn't. There were all sorts of slight differences. But before she could get too far with those thoughts he was pulling her close and she found herself pressing against him, unable to think of anything other than getting closer to him, even rising up on her tiptoes. Somehow, though, she was still holding onto her coffee mug - a fact she remembered only when some of the coffee sloshed over her hand.

Ariadne pulled away, laughing, and licked the spilled coffee off her fingers. "Well," she said brightly, "I think that was pretty successful. What about you? New memory firmly established?" Her knees felt wobbly. That was impressive.

He ducked his head down and nuzzled at her neck, grinning against her skin when he heard her comment. “It was pretty good, yes. But I’m worried that it might not have taken,” he said, lifting his head a little to nip at her earlobe with his teeth. “Would it be too much to ask if we could just... I don’t know, keep going until I’m certain?”

The laugh she let out was muffled in his shoulder, and Ariadne shifted enough to kiss him gently. "Sure, just let me put this down," she said, extricating herself and setting her mug on the roof, then wiping her still-damp hand on her thigh. It was only coffee, and if things progressed like she was expecting then she'd be showering later anyway. Maybe she could offer to help Danny scrub his back. As she straightened back up, she put a hand tentatively on his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Unless you'd rather move this inside?" She didn't give him a chance to answer, leaning up for another kiss.

He pulled her close once again, slipping a hand up under her top to rest on the skin of her lower back as he deepened the kiss before quickly moving both hands down so that he could lift her up, grinning as he felt her legs wrap around his waist. “Inside is good,” he finally said, after pretending to think about it for almost an entire second. Reasoning that nobody would want to steal a half-full mug of coffee, some bottles of water and a towel, he felt certain that leaving them on the roof for a while would not be a problem, so he headed for the door that led back downstairs. They could put off shopping until later.