( feb catch-all )

[specifications]

who: arthur
what: feb catch-all for tdm prompts and w/e else gets added
when: the month of february
where: all over the quarantine, jungles, etc
warnings: will add if needed



[ Multiple starters will be in the comments labeled open or closed as needed. If you're wanting something, you can PM me at this journal. ]

Comments

[specifications]

[ The boy whines into his mother's shoulder, little arms squeezing tighter and she keeps laughing before pointing out to the water. ]

It's going out to the water, look!

[ He gives a noise of protest, refusing to look. ]

I promise, it's leaving. Just look.

[ Slowly, he peaks out at the white foam ripping on the dark sand and the crab is there, pushing itself into the rolling water. Arthur is set back down at that and his mother stretches her arms over her head. She's only nineteen, only a few feet taller than him. ]

You wanna get some more shells? We need to be leaving in about an hour.

[ The boy frowns and looks down at the sand, digging the toe of his shoe into it. ]

Do we have to?

[ She nods, saying they do. But adding she should be home to tuck him in for bed. The child hardly looks mollified by the promise. His voice is small, almost too soft over the wave but because this is a memory, Eames can hear it as if he were right next to Arthur. ]

They don't like me.

[ She frowns at that and kneels down to be eye-level with him, asking him if he means his grandparents. He nods and Eames will hear how it's not him. They are mad at her. Upset for what she did. Not him. ]

They really don't like me.

[ He persists, not sure how to tell her about the coldness and even neglect he goes through when she's not there. Like he doesn't exist.
But she cups his face with her hands, ]

Well, I love you so I win.

[ She presses their foreheads together and it's enough to get a small smile out of the child. ]

[personifications]

[ It's so quiet, he shouldn't be able to hear this. And frankly, it's such an intimately small detail that Eames--for the first time in a very long time--feels incredibly uncomfortable. This isn't for him.

Arthur's going to kill him, if he finds out.

But it's heartwrenching and draws out of him a protective irritation he doesn't expect in how overwhelming the sensation of it is. Even in all of their teasing--hell, even in Arthur's leaving--there's little that can equate to the loneliness of neglectful family. Even spurning a lover.

He follows with the dream regardless--he has no other choice, even if he feels this is meant to be private and not for his ears--curious still in the face of taboo. ]