“Hang on, darling,” Eames said when Arthur collapsed against him. “Let’s get you out of here, patch a bit and you’ll be fine.” But he could not get them out, not with the gunfight still going on in the background. So he found the first closet and dragged Arthur in.
“Totem,” Arthur muttered against Eames’ shoulder.
“Sorry, love, this is not a dream. Things went tits up topside. We were made.” Eames closed the door and prepared to lay Arthur down. Just then, he heard it. A sentence, muffled against Eames’ shoulder.
“At least - at least I got to know what you smell like.”
What? Eames rewinded his memory to double check that he had actually heard what he had heard.
“You’re hallucinating,” he said, more to himself than Arthur, and for some reason he would never come to figure out, lifted Arthur’s vest and shirt right there, standing up against the wall, to check the gunshot wound.
Eames found an exit wound from Arthur’s back. The bullet had pierced through the whole body but the shot was so close to Arthur’s side that Eames knew all vital organs were intact. All he needed to do was to stop the bleeding.
“And I got you to touch my belly.” The words were a mere whisper, and Eames’ gaze snapped up just in time to catch the faintest of smiles.
Fuck. He must think I am someone else. Who knew Arthur cared about people touching his belly? For a brief moment Eames wanted to dislocate the limbs of whoever Arthur wanted to stroke him, but he pushed the thought away. It’s Arthur, Eames reminded himself as always. Years of working together had taught him to remember the cold truth. He probably doesn’t like blokes. He definitely doesn’t like you. He has no imagination.
“Eames,” Arthur whispered then, and turned his head until his lips were against Eames’ neck. Eames went still with shock when he felt what could only have been the beginnings of a this cannot be real this cannot be fucking Arthur saying things like this and fucking hell is this a fucking kiss what the fuck and then Arthur’s knees buckled as he lost consciousness.
When Arthur woke up in the hospital a day later, he said he didn’t remember anything after getting shot.