Ten months after a savage split, Arthur climbs down to pull Eames out of limbo.

In the immortal words of Freddie Mercury, Fucking on the subway, fucking on the subway, fucking on the subway on a job.

"It's a shame we had to meet like this." She blasts his kneecaps, and then lays a volley into his gut. He's still screaming in pain when Dom finally puts him out of his misery with a quick bullet to the head.

They're paired by their music teacher for their final assessment, a Battle of the Bands-style playoff. Unfortunately, she doesn't know that a bit of high school drama went down at term-break. She doesn't know what this one song she's making them play might mean to both of them.

 "Arthur's learned this lesson before."

Arthur is working for Saito at Fischer-Morrow. Robert notices.

"Ah," Yusuf says, lifting a reproving hand, "are we calling less than 24 hours of memory loss amnesia now?"

Ariadne needs a vacation. So does Arthur, but he doesn't know it yet.

“You don’t appreciate my natural-born talent,” Arthur said mournfully. “I suppose I will just have to remind you of how spectacular I really am.”

Arthur needs a date for Gwen's wedding. The rest is history.

This time, Arthur has a secret.

Morgause teaches Arthur about himself.

It's a mutually beneficial business arrangement and mutually beneficial sex. Arthur can end it any old time he wants. Any time of day.

Possession is a two-way street. There is ownership in letting yourself be taken over. After all, a leash is a rope that works both ways, and both ways are about control.

The reason SAS Captain Arthur Pendragon can't keep a communications specialist in Team Excalibur because none of them are good enough. And then Lieutenant Merlin Emrys gets assigned to his squad, and Arthur does everything he can to prove that Merlin isn't good enough, either. Except he is.

“This,” call-me-Gaius thunders, “is Mr. Morgan. He’ll be preparing you for Oxbridge applications, and I trust that you will treat him with the respect he deserves.” He is pointedly looking straight at Arthur as he says it.

"Does that mean you dream about me at your doorstep often?"

Some days, Arthur knew he deserved what he got. Other days, he still knew it, but he wrapped himself in self-pity, let it encase him like a security blanket, and didn’t know how to settle without it.

Arthur isn't used to making mistakes.

No one has better timing than a mother.

Or worse timing, depending on what said mother wants.

"Mum, no," Eames says into the phone, kicking the refrigerator door closed with his bare foot since his hands are currently full of ale bottles and sable paint brushes.

In which an argument about Dickens leads to a Twitter scandal, broken bones, midnight conversations, and transatlantic longing.

(Or, an AU with Arthur and Merlin as moderately famous authors.)

"Ah! I was right! You weren't doing it correctly. No wonder it hurt, you idiot."

"Shut it. Oil isn't going to make anything smaller and it isn't going to make anything bigger!"

A modern day AU that delivers three well-worn tropes (university, strippers, businessmen) for the price of one. Consider this your warning.

>> When Merlin finished his A-levels, financing university by taking his clothes off didn't exactly occur to him. <<

Whatever life Dom had in America, he’s left it behind as thoroughly as Arthur, and neither of them ever push the other for their life stories. Arthur likes to think that it’s because he and Dom agree about why everything that came before doesn’t really matter. That they both know their lives began when they met Eames and Mal.

After his mother "retires," Arthur finds himself in need of a new business partner. He gets a bit more than he bargained for with Eames. OR; in which Arthur becomes a real boy.

The perils of fucking on the job.

Dreaming, driving, dying; this is a story about how things don't change.

Written for this prompt at inception_kink - "When the next generation of Somnacin compound gets released, people start experiencing odd side effects; they dream about their past lives. The next time Arthur & Eames share a dream, they come across a startling revelation - they've been lovers in every single incarnation of their past selves, finding each other no matter what their form, no matter what obstacles had stood in their way."

Camelot Publishing publishes romance novels, and when Arthur founds a new imprint of gay romance and invites his best friend and pet writer Merlin to write for it, it's a bit too easy to miss the fact that apparently he's living in one.

This was originally posted at the kink meme here for this prompt:

Arthur/Merlin, Arthur/Other

Arthur and Other are in a long distance, unhappy relationship. For whatever reason, Arthur is expect to stay with Other. He meets Merlin and they strike up a fast, emotionally deep, friendship. They often flirt, and have some romantic feelings towards each other. But Arthur and Other have discussed "The Line" which would define cheating on each other: Kissing on the mouth, any touching of private parts and sex.

Merlin goes to visit Arthur for the weekend, at night the end up having a light make out session, but never cross The Line. (kissing/biting necks, playful wrestling, frottage, whatever) On the last night together after an intense session they end up with their mouths barely touching, whispering to each other, but still maintaining The Line. They both want it so badly but they know how guilty they would feel if they crossed The Line.

From the beginning of their relationship, Eames has always been the one to find Arthur. A story in which Arthur is kidnapped, Eames is a hopeless romantic, the past informs the present, and true love conquers all.

The story of how Eames and Arthur meet is one of the great legends of the dream-sharing profession.

In it, there's a dark alley, a foreign country, a bar, a punch in the face, a loaded die, a poker chip, a three-piece suit, and a kiss. Not necessarily in that order. And not necessarily all the time.

Arthur gets out of a bad situation and into a nice suit.

Arthur is a full-service masseuse. Eames is his favorite customer.

"But God knows this can't last. You're going to find someone you do want and I'd just as soon finish this before that happens."

Eames is silent for a long time before he says, "It's not going to happen."

"Statistically speaking," Arthur starts, but Eames doesn't let him finish.

"Statistically speaking, love," and his voice is almost a cruel imitation of Arthur's, "if it hasn't happened in thirty-three years, it's not likely to happen now."

The cardinal rule of being a wedding planner is not falling in love with the bride or groom. Arthur's never had trouble with that rule.

In which there is pining, Merlin bakes, Arthur borrows batteries he doesn't actually need, and did I mention the pining?

Merlin's addicted to Craigslist, Arthur's looking for love in all the wrong places, and with a little help from their friends, they manage to get it together.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

~ Dr. Seuss

Arthur sees a vision of himself and Merlin married and happy, but they can barely stand each other. They both start doing everything they can to avoid it happening.

“Just once,” Eames says, “I wish you’d let me come round when I’m not in mortal peril.”

Arthur doesn’t quite know when renting a house in Westchester and pretending to be in a civil union with Eames came to constitute "lying-low" but however it happened, he wants a do-over. Pretending to be married fic!

"Arthur, you're about to be deported."

Arthur doesn't care much about the popular radio program Dragon's Lonely Hearts until his ex-girlfriend calls in to slag him off and get advice. When he calls in and has an on-air argument with the host, it starts off more than he expected, including meddling friends, overinvolved fans, and maybe love.

Arthur knows exactly where they are, even with the snow landing fast and thick around them. He knows the woods they’re in better than anyone in the kingdom, recognises every laden bough as he would a brother, and all Merlin’s talk about being lost is just wasted air. Arthur could never be lost in Camelot, not on these lands he’s ranged over since boyhood, this soil he’s fought and lost and bled for.

“...where we’re going, Arthur,” Merlin is saying, and Arthur turns to him with a sigh, because apparently ignoring Merlin isn’t going to make him stop talking. “We’ve passed that stump four times now.”

Arthur tries normal life as a bank manager after the Army shuts down its PASIV program, until Eames comes along and steals that normal life right out from under him.

"Look, I’m not going to beat around the bush here. You seem like you have a good head on your shoulders in addition to training and experience. I'm calling to offer you a job as Eames' fulltime bodyguard for his upcoming summer tour."

One day Arthur finds a quote scrawled on his desk. His competitive streak forces him to reply.

Eames is a movie star down on his luck. Arthur is the writer sent to interview him.

Arthur likes to find his inspiration in other people's dreams. Mal holds the secrets of a princess in a tower. Eames wants to cross the bridge and burn it behind him. And Saito's most popular author can't (or won't) finish her greatest work...

Arthur's known since he was young that he has a knack for cooking and baking, and beginning culinary school only makes him more certain. But no matter how good he is, it seems Eames is better – which does not endear him to Arthur in the slightest. Eames, however, is quite determined to get Arthur to open up and stop being so uptight and prickly by any means necessary. While each hones his skill in the culinary arts (and Arthur desperately tries to convince Ariadne that the desired structural integrity of her cakes violates basic laws of physics), they increasingly find themselves drawn together, inside the classroom and out. Given such close quarters in the kitchen, and the amount of sensory stimulation involved with preparing all manner of food, it starts to become difficult for Arthur to retain his customary level of distance and detachment. And, as Arthur will find, when it comes to unsatisfied appetites, hunger is often the best sauce of all.

Saito's job referral draws Arthur, Eames, and Ariadne together for an extraction in Finland that proves unexpectedly dangerous and difficult, pushing the three of them past all limits and into a precarious and tender three-cornered relationship. In which Ariadne loses the future she'd planned, Eames loses the past he thought he'd already thrown away, and Arthur loses his distance, secrets are revealed and a dance for two becomes a tango for three.

After all this time, Arthur has too much pride to simply ask Eames to have sex with him. A story in which the job isn't always glamourous, Cobb thinks Arthur makes poor life decisions, and Eames steals everything (including, maybe, Arthur's heart).

That's the thing about Hollywood--everyone has a Hollywood story.

“Oh,” Eames says. “A potential riot. I must be going love, ta!”

“Don’t get shanked!” Arthur yells, but Eames has already hung up.

Arthur's one of the bright lights of the conservatory, but he's sharing the stage with a star about to go supernova.

“Arthur, you've rung me at 2:30 in the bloody morning from Soho where you appear to be on a street corner and shirtless, possibly drugged. I've no doubt you're capable of handling yourself under normal circumstances, but drunken blokes aren't always the most understanding sort, especially when you're not actually selling what you look like you're selling.”

“I just think that If we're doing this, we need to make some things absolutely clear," Arthur says, and he lays out a yellow legal pad on the table before Eames--aka Chuck Dickens, Frankie Bacon, and Jim Dean (although really Arthur thinks he's flattering himself with that last one). On that yellow legal pad there is a Venn Diagram, a fucking Venn Diagram, with two circles that do not overlap at all. One says ‘Things I should tell my lawyer,’ and the other says ‘Things I should absolutely not, under no circumstances, ever tell my lawyer.’ ‘No’ is underlined. ‘Ever’ is underlined thrice.

Acquaintances, half-heart rivals: these words defined Arthur's relationship with Eames for years, until the Fischer job brings in another part to the equation--friendship. But the rules of engagement change completely during a night of drinks and suggestive conversation. What begins as a one night stand slowly turns into something much more complicated. Can you really be friends with benefits and feelings?

After pining for longer than he'd care to admit, Arthur asks Merlin out and gets more than he expected.

I'm the guy your boyfriend fucked last night, Arthur could say. I'm the guy who sucked his dick years before he even knew you existed. He wants to say, I'm the guy who'll still be here long after you've had enough because I'm Arthur and I'm a fucking idiot.

Arthur’s not sure if it’s the vodka, or the bitter fucking cold, but never has a single group of people been so completely adept at all forms of espionage and backstabbing.

In the midst of a very dull summer, Arthur wheedles his way into a bar and into Eames's pants. Cobb despairs.

Arthur has always been told he’s mature for his age. Maybe it comes from being an only child, or from having to step into his father’s shoes too soon, or maybe he’s just too serious for his own good. Whatever the reason, he doesn’t like having his foundations shaken. Going in for a physical is not something that should shake them.

Arthur loves Daniel, he truly does; but it’s Eames. There’s no point in drawing a comparison. It’s not apples and oranges. It’s apples and Goethe, apples and Rachmaninoff.

Being a freshman piano performance major at a prestigious New England conservatory is difficult enough without landing the school's star baritone as your singer, and inevitably, your hopeless crush.

Okay, he plays World of Warcraft, but it’s a lot like spending a night hooked up with lines connecting to the PASIV device. Just minus the needle. And with a $15-per-month surcharge. It’s a fair trade, he decides, as another murloc dies by his hand.

It starts innocently enough (yeah, right), Arthur sends Eames a birthday gift as a sort of (ok, totally) signal that Arthur knows these things about him. But he spends what is probably an inordinate amount of time considering the gift itself. It has to be perfect.

In which Cobb decides two babysitters are better than one, Saito proves that money can buy happiness, and Eames is excellent with children. Oh, and Arthur's a fucking Disney princess.

On the first day of Christmas, Arthur comes home to find a stuffed partridge on his table and three hundred pears in his fridge.

"Eames," he says, and reaches for the phone before he even has a chance to take his coat off.

Canon AU -- Merlin's death is only the beginning; with no-one to protect the kingdom, Camelot falls to an enemy sorcerer and Arthur is forced to serve in the court that he once ruled. When an escape attempt goes horribly wrong, Arthur is rescued by someone he never expected to see again -- and it's their destiny to put things right.

The new Muggle Prime Minister meets the Minister for Magic.

"Forgive me, Father," he says, "for I have sinned."

"Of course you have," says Arthur, dry.

aka the juicebox fic. In which Arthur's ass is magic and Eames likes sticking his tongue into small, tight holes.

He's used to the fluidity of dreams, to the quicksilver mutability of Eames within them, but it still shifts something inside his chest, to be chasing one person and finding another, to know that they are both the same. It's a Penrose staircase he's walked a thousand times, and yet every time there is a moment when he falls headlong off the paradox's edge.

Arthur likes to invent things. And grow mustaches. He's a man of many facets.

Gotham is Eames's primary US base of operations.

That sums the city up perfectly.

Friendship means going in first and taking the heaviest fire.

Arthur's well aware that some people call this codependency. He thinks that label was invented by people who set artificial barriers on love. Love isn't a choice, it's not something you do. Love is a state of being that consumes everything in its wake like paper on fire.

You either love someone or you don't, and if you love them, you only say no until it's obvious you're not going to get your way, then you fully commit to whatever bullshit thing the person is into (whether that be yoga, distance running, video editing, or arms smuggling).

Which is how Arthur ends up with a pet pig.

As Eames turns to lead them around the building Arthur catches his hand. Eames doesn't flinch away or look down. Arthur taps in Morse code against Eames's palm.

SITREP

Eames taps back FUBAR.

But before Arthur could decide if he should be worried or angry, the voice continued: “We know about you and Jack Eames, Arthur.”

Eames’ cheeks go faintly pink, and for a long moment there’s nothing to listen to but the thumping of the headboard next door, the shouting.