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A tinkling bell and a scampering kitten causes Arthur to come to a sudden halt. He reacts so quickly that his momentum causes him to go up on the balls of his feet which has the side effect of throwing off his balance, made worse by the heavy box he’s carrying.“Careful there,” Eames says wrapping his free hand around Arthur’s waist. “Don’t crush our boy.”“Fuck!” Arthur shouts startled both by Eames and the kitten. “Language love, not in front of the kid,” Eames admonishes. “Christ Eames! Why did you let them out of the room? And is that … did you give him that ball to play with?” Arthur asks, setting the box he was carrying down in the main living area. “You know that in a new place we’ve got to keep them in one area so they don’t get stressed out. Where are Sirrah and Tupac?”“In the room where you want them, snuggled up in the laundry basket enjoying a bit of time away from the kid.” Arthur followed Eames to the second bedroom and peeked in. He breathed a sigh of relief to see the two older cats curled up. Not even bothering to open their eyes at the sound of the door. “See,” Eames said pulling the door closed again. “Poor little Trem was crying so I had to let him out.”“Eames, you keep doing that and he’s gonna learn to scream for everything!” Arthur sighs while digging into a box for cat treats to tempt Tremello back into the room with the other two cats. He shakes the bag once and the kitten comes running. “Put him back in there so we can get the rest of the stuff out of the truck without him underfoot or risk him getting outside.” “Alright, alright let me grab him,” Eames says soothingly while scooping the kitten up. Some treats and a few pats later all three cats are safely behind the closed door. -“Sorry,” Arthur says later running a hand through his sweaty hair. All of the boxes are out of the truck and in the new condo. It’s just a matter of unpacking everything now. “I’m kinda stressed, it’s a new neighbourhood and I don’t want to lose them.” He pulls Eames into a hug, resting his cheek on Eames’s shoulder. “Still, I shouldn’t have shouted.”“S’alright,” Eames says rubbing at Arthur’s sides. “It’s all part of the learning curve. Besides, I know you’re … prickly when you’re stressed and I just made it worse.” He leans in and starts kissing down Arthur’s jaw towards his lips.“Mmm Eames,” Arthur says in between kisses. Running his fingers down Eames’s cheek, feeling the rasp of the stubble. “Shit!” He shouts shoving Eames away. “We gotta get that rental truck gassed up and back so we don’t have to pay for another day!” The sudden change in Arthur’s demeanor makes Eames laugh. “And here I thought we were about to christen the new place. Okay, get your things love, and we’ll drop off the truck then we’ll come right back and dedicate the new place to the house of Cohen / Eames.”
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Even though they’ve been together for over a year, and living together for the past 4 months, Eames was always in awe of waking up beside Arthur in the mornings. Arthur with the normally perfect hair all mussed and floppy from the pillow. Normally bright eyes puffy with sleep. A little bit sweaty, rumpled instead of polished, soft curves in the place of sharp angles. And on the weekends, oh god the weekends, no matter what absolutely, 100% down for morning sex. He just really loved soft rumpled morning Arthur.“Mmmgrruubbbb,” Arthur groaned as he woke up, blinking his brown eyes at Eames. “Mmmm Arthur,” Eames said tugging Arthur close to kiss him.“Mmmghu, teeth.” Arthur protested the way he protested every Saturday morning. “S’fine,” Eames muttered back and continued to kiss. It was slow and lazy, hands touching, rubbing, petting. Familiar and warm, the urgency of their actions slowly increasing in pace with need. Eventually Arthur’s hand was flapping and batting around the night table for condoms and lube. Knocking at least one other thing (what was it this time? A book? Mobile phone? Watch?) off the table in the process. Arthur’s hands became tangled with Eames’s while trying to help him roll a condom on. Then a litany of soft sighs that became loud, profanity written yelps as each got close and tumbled over into ecstasy.- Arthur groaned and stretched, scratching at the dry come on his belly. He wrinkled his nose at the feeling.“God I need a shower,” he mumbled.“Mmm,” Eames hummed a reply. He was sticky as well but nothing that couldn’t wait a little longer.“And coffee,” Arthur said a yawn punctuating the two words. “Yeah,” Eames grunted. “You pop in the shower first and I’ll put the kettle on.”Twenty minutes later, Arthur wanders into the kitchen. Hair slicked back with water but dressed in yesterday’s sweats and a shirt.“Yusuf texted,” Eames said handing him a coffee. There was a pile of toast on the plate in the middle of the table. “He and Ari are back from their honeymoon and want to meet up. Show photos and tell us about it.”Arthur snorted into his coffee, “S’not like they didn’t snapchat just about everything. But yeah, it will be great to see them. Greece looked amazing, I wanna hear about it.” “Yeah, have you thought about it? A vacation I mean.” Eames said between bites of buttered toast that were on a plate in front of him. “Hmm,” Arthur said noncommittally, snagging a piece of toast from Eames’s plate rather than the one filled with toast. “I used up a bunch when I moved in with you and I’m still low man at the office. I don’t get much but I’ve probably got six or seven days left for the year. Why, what are you thinking?” “I’m not sure,” Eames said. “How do you feel with joining me on an adventure?”