undergrounds | [Meatball Parade on loop for 10 hours]

"Well, yeah, but... ten or fifteen years isn't a lifetime. It's a long time to be in a relationship, but things only fizzle out if there's more bad than good. You can wish for more of the good all you want but there's always a reason people part ways and it's not worth dwelling over for that long. Unless..."

He gestures vaguely and then gives Eames a hesitant glance with the knowledge he's maybe hitting too close to home here. He speaks a little softer but he knows he has to clarify what he was going to say. "Unless you're talking about times you stayed with them all the way through."

Well. He's just gonna brush right over that, because he's old enough and has spent enough time with mortals to have watched a lot of people die. Regardless of whether or not they were romantically entangled or not. And frankly it's not a topic of conversation he's about to broach with Arthur, of all people.

"I'm lucky enough that a lot of my relationships ended amicably," Eames says instead, refocusing on that instead of the topic of mortality, "I suppose that makes it more easy, thinking about what could've been."

He certainly doesn't think it's weird to think about the time you could've had without the other party having to die.

Arthur understands why Eames would brush over that, so he doesn't push. He focuses his gaze outside again as they wait.

"So would you start it all over again if someone came along? You never really said, you know, whether it's worth it or not..."

Honestly he's got no idea if he'd say it's worth it or not, especially when it comes to mortals. Some things are great, others less so. Eames' brows draw together as he thinks about it-- it's not an easy question to answer.

"It's not something I'm looking for or that I especially want, in fact it's something I actively avoid, but..." He trails off, quiet again because he feels like he's about to say some stupid shit, "the concept of a relationship is nothing to me, you know? It's a meaningless definition based on this idea of what people should be rather than what they are. I've no interest in that.

"But... Some people are worth time and devotion. I wouldn't run from that if I saw it in someone-- or someones again."

This is a lot more honesty and openness than he expected from Eames and Arthur finds himself at a loss of what to say next. It's vague as far as answers go - Eames is essentially saying he avoids relationships but would commit to one for the right person - but it still feels a lot more telling than a few of the other simple and concise answers Arthur may have expected.

So there's no much he can come up with other than, "huh," as he stares out the window and tries to shoo away all the other questions he has floating around in his head. They're heading into territory Arthur knows he doesn't want to explore right now so it's all he does despite the fact that he knows it's not a worthy response.

Wow. Okay. Here he is being honest and open and all he gets is 'huh.'

Wonderful.

"So," Eames says, "is it my turn to ask a bunch of uncomfortably personal questions?"

Arthur stalls a couple seconds by rolling his eyes as he asks the universe to just let the witch they're tailing come back outside already.

No such luck.

"I don't know, if you want, I guess," he said, trying to make like his hackles aren't a bit raised already at the idea of Eames asking personal questions.

Well, the fact that Arthur's on edge at the idea makes Eames feel a little better and he gives an amused snort.

(On the other hand? It annoys him a little, but he'll push past that.)

"Why are you so curious about--" he gestures to himself, "my relationship history all of a sudden?"

"It's not--" he stops himself, wondering where he was planning on having that sentence going. It's not all of a sudden? That implies he's been thinking about it, which he definitely has not. Not on purpose.

"I'm not," he says, a little too annoyed and abrupt to be completely convincing. He's angry at himself for asking so many questions to begin with, and now he has to deal with the result of that.

Sure he's not, that's why he's asked so many questions. That's why he's been so obviously invested in the things Eames has to say.

"It's not...?" Eames prompts, not letting Arthur get away from this.

He's not going to acknowledge that, because it was a dumb thought to begin with, so Arthur just shrugs a little instead and finally turns to look at Eames. It's a brief look, like he's nervous that if he looks too long or too closely he might actually figure out why he's feeling so defensive.

"What, am I not allowed to be interested?"

"You're allowed to be interested," he says, and he looks from the window to Arthur with his eyebrows raised for emphasis before he turns his gaze back outside, "but given it's my life you're poking around in, I think I'm allowed to ask why."

"You didn't have to answer," he says impatiently, shifting in his seat. He wants to do anything but talk about why he's interested or what he's interested in. There's a jumble of thoughts he hasn't been able to sort out and doesn't want to and he's trapped in this stupid car with Eames now and why won't that fucking witch come out of the fucking building.

"And you're dodging the question."

He's not about to let Arthur bait him into a fight to get away from this. It'd be easy and Eames isn't falling for it, not when Arthur's so obviously reticent to explain away something Eames was originally ready to brush off as idle curiosity.

Arthur takes a deep breath, trying to sort out his thoughts enough so he can confidently tell Eames something without horribly embarrassing himself. He stares at the building and at the witch's car to stabilize himself and let go of some of the tension in his body.

"I was just curious," he says. "I don't know why I wanted to know, I just did. I don't have any ulterior motives here, Eames."

"Okay, fine." Eames relents, slouching in his seat with a heavy sigh, "that's all you had to say."

Arthur clenches his jaw and sighs. "I'm sorry," he says, sounding tired. He feels compelled to apologize, not just to placate Eames but to clear his own conscience. He feels like he's done something wrong.

"It's fine," Eames says, hefting another sigh. "It's not like I was compelled to answer your questions. "

That gives Arthur pause, and his eyebrows twitch as he replays that back to himself in his head.

"So why did you?"

"Not like I could lie about it, is it?"

You know, what with the whole 'cannot tell a lie' thing he's subject to an all that.

"You could have just said you didn't want to talk about it," he says.

Eames shrugs a shoulder in response, totally nonchalant, "I didn't really mind."

Arthur's in the process of trying to think about how to respond to that when he sees the door to the building open and the witch walks out. He looks down at his watch as he grabs his pen and his notebook so he can jot down the time.

"Time to go," he says.

Eames watches as she gets into her car, hoping for something unusual or untoward, but it's mostly the standard things one does when starting their car. And then someone comes out and joins her and he figures that's it for tonight unless either of them have a pair of binoculars handy.

Either way, it's probably a fair assumption where the rest of her night is going.

"I think we've got all we're going to," he sighs, agreeing with Arthur.

Arthur turns the key in the ignition and starts the car with a sigh.

"You want me to take you home?"

(no subject)

falsify - 2017-02-18 02:33 (UTC) - Expand