genetics | Inception: love you like a love song (1/?)

hi guys! sorry for the long disappearance... this was originally written for

ae_match back during the summer, but a.) I never finished it (clearly I am not meant to write wips), and b.) I never posted it here. so I guess this is a repost + whatever new chapters I manage to come up with.

love you like a love song (1/?)
inception: arthur/eames
pg, 1632 words
AU. In which Arthur is a university student, and Eames is that really famous actor who happens to be starting at the same university.
a/n: for the prompt "overwhelmed" at

ae_match. originally posted here.

"Oh my god," Ariadne says loudly as she plops herself down into the chair next to Arthur's, scattering a stack of his papers as she throws her bag onto the library table. Arthur shoots her a dirty look, which she cheerfully ignores. "Did you hear? Eames is coming to our university. He's arriving any minute."

"Who's Eames?" Arthur asks half-heartedly (only because he knows that she'll tell him anyway and he might as well play along), not looking up from his English paper on the effects of solidarity on the events of the Seattle General Strike of 1919 and the Komagata Maru incident. He has exactly seven hours to perfect his outline and draft before he has to submit it online, at which point he has to work on his lab prep.

"You don't know Eames?" Ariadne asks, outrage permeating every syllable of her words. The librarian from across the hall shoots her an unimpressed look, and Ariadne quickly lowers her voice. "It's Eames. As in, the lead actor in the Forging Dreams series? He's been in those movies since he was like, ten, and now that the series is over, he's taking a break from acting to go to university."

"Mhmm," Arthur says, not particularly interested or impressed. "Is that the guy you were talking about on the phone last time? The one who was dating that Playboy girl?"

"Hey look, you remembered!" Ariadne seems disproportionately delighted. "Well, rumor is, he gets around a bit, so he doesn't exactly have the best reputation. Doesn't make him any less hot though."

Arthur stares at his concluding paragraph. Why did it sound so awkward? "If he's that great, why aren't you out there greeting him on arrival?"

"Are you kidding? There's like, a million fangirls outside the administration building right now, waiting for his car to pull up. If I tried to go, I'd just get trampled."

"Hmm," Arthur says, non-committal, trying going over his references one more time.

"Fine, fine, you're not interested, I get it," Ariadne says, throwing up her arms in an exaggerated fashion. "So how long are you staying here then?"

"Uh, until the library closes?"

"What? Arthur, term just started two weeks ago. How much work can you have?"

Arthur sighs. "Ariadne, this is my last year here, and I'm doing a double major on top of a minor - which means I'm probably taking three more courses than the average fourth year student." He presses the heel of his palms to his eyes in a futile effort to stave off the impending headache. "And on top of that, you know they voted me in as the Undergrad Society treasurer this year, which means I have to be at every single one of their weekly meetings. I'll be lucky if I get time to sleep this year."

"I'm sorry, I know you have lots to do," Ariadne says, and Arthur's exhaustion must have finally come through because her voice softens. "I'll stop nagging you for now - but don't forget to eat, okay?" She frowns. "You have to take care of yourself, you know. Do you want me to bring you food later?"

"There's no eating in the library - and plus, don't you have a dinner date with Robert?" Arthur gives her a small smile. "Don't worry, I'll get my own food later. You go on ahead."

By the time the librarian kicks Arthur out at half past eleven (okay, not exactly "kick out" - because all the university librarians pretty much know and love Arthur - more like, "ask him nicely to leave"), Arthur's managed to finish his English draft, wrap up his lab prep, do the necessary research for his elective project, and get a good head start on next week's speech for the Debate Society. As he staggers towards his dorm room, all he wants to do is pull off his shoes and collapse into bed.

Unfortunately for Arthur, it looks like the entire university has decided to camp out in front of his dorm building. Also, there are two police officers standing guard by the entrance.

There are two fourth year dorm buildings at the university - one near central campus, and another about a fifteen-minute walk away. Most people prefer the former, since it's closer to the lecture halls, the rooms are bigger, and the building itself is bigger, meaning it's a lot easier to hold parties and social events in the lounge. Arthur though, had applied for the second building. It's located on a pretty obscure part of campus, and therefore more or less quiet on most nights. In the face of his overwhelming schedule, Arthur had figured that would be the better choice.

Which means the crowds surrounding his building makes even less sense. It takes him far too long to actually get to the main door, and even longer to convince the police officers that yes, he actually lives in this building, and yes, he has his dorm papers to prove it - except he doesn't have them on hand right now because they're upstairs, in his room.

"What's going on anyway?" Arthur asks, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice when they finally let him pass. The front lock clicks open with a beep as he waves his key pass at the sensor.

"Just some private security issues," one of them says vaguely, waving for him to go through.

Taking the elevator up to the fourth floor, Arthur readjusts the pile of books in his arms before reaching for his room key. As he's opening his own door, he hears a laugh from the other side of the hall.

The fourth year dorm buildings are organized so that there are only two rooms on each floor - one on each side of the elevator. The other room on Arthur's floor happens to be unoccupied - apparently, administration had assigned a student there originally, but she'd turned out to be superstitious and hadn't wanted to live on the fourth floor.

It sounds like someone else had moved in after all. For a second, Arthur contemplates being social for once and going over to say hello, but the pile of books in his arms is starting to feel like a ton of bricks. With a sigh, he pushes open his own door, drops his books and bag on the floor, and proceeds to kick off his shoes.

"Um, hello?" A voice says from behind him.

Whirling around fast enough to make himself dizzy, Arthur turns. And stares.

At first glance, the guy standing outside his door is really stunningly attractive.

He remains fucking stunningly attractive at second glance, and every subsequent glance after that.

The guy looks to be about the same height as Arthur, but whereas Arthur is shaped a bit like a beanstalk, this guy has shoulders three times as wide and biceps to match. He's dressed in a white undershirt and sweatpants, and his lips are kind of obscene. If Arthur weren’t ridiculously tired, his heart would be working in overdrive by now.

Instead, Arthur manages a small smile. "Hi there. Did you need something?"

"I've been assigned to the other room on this floor, and I just wanted to drop by and say hello," the guy says, and Arthur's definitely not imagining the flirtatious curve to his lips as he blatantly looks Arthur up and down.

"Welcome to the building then. I'm Arthur." Arthur holds out a hand. "You're starting term now? Are you transferring in from somewhere?"

Arthur is contemplating the intelligence of inviting him in for a coffee when the guy reaches out and grips his hand in a lingering handshake. "I'm Eames," he says, and instantly, any positive thoughts Arthur might have had drains out of him.

"You're Eames?"

"Er, yes?" Eames smiles tentatively. "Is that a problem?"

He has a delicious British accent that would normally make Arthur weak in the knees, but at the moment, Arthur kind of just wants to punch him. "Tell me, are you the reason why it took me over half an hour to get past the security downstairs?"

"Probably?" Eames has the nerve to laugh. "Look, I'm really sorry about that, darling, but it's really not my -"

"I'm not your darling," Arthur says sharply, cutting him off.

Eames stares at him for a second before chuckling, as if the situation is somehow amusing. "You do know that most people would be happy to have me as their neighbour?"

"Well, I'm not most people," Arthur retorts, and he can't help the sinking disappointment in his chest as he thinks, oh, he's one of those types. Ariadne's rumors had been right after all. He'd barely known Eames for a few minutes, and already, Eames seems a self-centered dick.

Eames has the grace to look a little regretful, but Arthur's had enough. "Well, if you don't mind, Mr. Eames, I need to get to bed," he says, and then he shuts the door before Eames can say anything else.

With a tired sigh, he sinks down into his chair, burying his face in his arms for a minute before forcing himself to rearrange his notes so that they're organized for tomorrow. By the time he's done, it's a quarter to one, and Arthur has 8AM classes in the morning.

Shoving Eames firmly out of his mind, Arthur crawls into bed. He falls asleep before his head hits the pillow.

The next morning, as Arthur rushes out the door, forgets his architecture textbook, and comes back to retrieve it, he notices a post-it note stuck to his door.

Arthur,

I’m sorry about last night – can we just do this over again? Knock on my door some time when you’re free. We can go for coffee. ;)

E

~

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