Be Careful, Be Careless, Be Careful

by elizajane

Chapter 14: Epiphany

Notes:

Prompt: kissing

Eames will never tire of kissing Arthur.

“How can you know that?” Arthur asks, as Eames smooths his palms over Arthur’s ribs, tonguing sloppy kisses down the groove of Arthur’s breastbone. “It took you a year to decide that you wanted to kiss me at all.”

“Eleven months,” corrects Eames, nosing at Arthur’s bellybutton, moving on to press soft lips against Arthur’s hipbone, “and it wasn’t that I couldn’t decided if I wanted to. It’s that I wanted you too much.”

“Never too much,” Arthur says breathlessly, shifting restlessly beneath the surety of Eames’ mouth and hands. “Not for me.”

Notes:

How can we be at the end of this challenge fic?

I admit I embarked upon writing this fic with some trepidation, given the amazing writers who play in this 'verse. But y'all have been so kind and responsive and kind of amazing! Thank you. You made the yuletide season even better than it otherwise would have been.

I wasn't sure I would write these these two beyond these drabbles but of course they insist. So you're getting at least two more pieces ... the Eames outtake that mirrors Arthur's and a first-time/get-together fic. They still need to be written. I know better than to make promises that involve publication timelines but I will share them as soon as they're written and betaed. <3

Notes:

Title from Carl Sandburg's Little Girl Be Careful What You Say.

'VERSE NOTES:

I decided to write my drabbles for a ‘verse I haven’t actually established yet, beyond some Twitter babbling. So here’s a bit of background for those who want it.

This is a Boston AU. Most of the scenes in these drabbles will take place in the North End neighborhood, where our core cast of characters work and Arthur lives.

Eames is the son of an art historian and art conservationist who moved him from England to Boston in his teens. They still live/work in Boston. Eames has since earned a BFA, and MFA, and is adjuncting at art schools in the Boston area while completing his journeyman hours to become a licensed tattoo artist. Eames and Yusuf, who have known one another since adolescence, are roommates in Jamaica Plain.

Arthur is new to Boston (within the past year); he is from Toronto by way of UC-Berkeley and was hired straight out of undergrad for a tech company in Kendall Square thanks to his programming skills and the good word Cobb (his undergraduate mentor) put in for him. Cobb and Mal own a condo in the North End that they are letting Arthur rent at below-market rates. Arthur suffers from impostor syndrome and chronic anxiety, but is excellent at his job (because Arthur). The rest of life is still a work in progress.

Yusuf is a mate of Eames’ from high school; they moved in together after college when both were in the area and looking for a way to move out of their parents’ homes. They’ve lived together through graduate school, for close to ten years at this point. Yusuf is a patron services librarian at the North End branch of the Boston Public Library and back in school in the North Bennet Street’s book conservator program hoping to take advantage of his BS in chemistry to transition from patron services to conservation.

Ariadne and Yusuf are dating. They met through Eames, who got to know Ariadne when he was completing his apprenticeship as a tattoo artist. She has just started her apprenticeship. Until the previous year, she was at MIT’s City Design and Development but dropped out to become a tattoo artist instead. Ariadne currently works at Antico Forno, next door to the coffee shop (Boston Common Coffee) where the four of them have fallen into the habit of gathering on Wednesday evenings for tea and gossip.

When this drabble series opens, it is November 2015 and Eames is nursing a crush on Arthur and gathering up the courage to make a move.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of North End AU