[m/m tho] Kiss with a fist is better than none
The first time Arthur meets Ben, they’re both fresh-faced, soft recruits. They sit together on the bus ride to the base, but they’re in different units so it’s the last time they see each other for awhile. After two years, they meet again when they’re both selected for a special military program called the PASIV Project. They’re meant to test a new training technology of some sort, something to do with dreams. No one really knows the details yet.
Out of the twenty who started the program, only twelve remain after six months. Arthur and Ben are two of the twelve. They’re friends, and sometimes more, but not a couple. They’re the best in their unit at dreaming with the PASIV device, and after another six months go by, they’re two of only six left. The rest of the unit, the other fourteen, are catatonic or dead. Arthur doesn’t want to end up like them, and his fear ends up driving a wedge in his relationship with Ben, who has a bold confidence in the program and the men running it that Arthur just doesn’t have.
When he meets Dominic Cobb, Arthur sees his chance. He doesn’t say good-bye to Ben, doesn’t leave a note, as doing so might make someone think Ben was an accomplice.
He keeps track of Ben over the years, on and off. Ben is promoted several times, grows a couple of inches, fills out even more. Arthur sometimes wants to send his old friend a message, to apologize or congratulate him, but Ben is still deeply enmeshed in the PASIV military program, and any contact would put one or both of them in danger.
Arthur is in LA stalking a mark when next he meets Ben. They’re in an upscale club where the girls wear little and the men wear suits, and Arthur is drinking at the bar when he hears a familiar voice offer to buy him a drink. He looks up to see Ben, mouth twisted sharply in that smirk Arthur had missed so much, and just as Arthur sits back and opens his mouth to respond, Ben draws back lightning fast and lands a punch right to Arthur’s jaw.
With his mouth hanging open like it was, Arthur’s jaw nearly dislocates with the force of it, and he staggers off is stool in a daze. The bartender is yelling and there’s blood in Arthur’s mouth. The mark is looking right at them, as is half the lounge.
“I deserve that,” Arthur says, thumbing blood from his lip. To the bartender, he shakes his head. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. He’s a friend.”
Moments later, there’s an ache in his jaw and a tongue in his mouth. It may be a gentleman’s club, but it’s not a gay one, and they’re getting dirty looks. The bartender clears his throat. It’s time to leave.
Arthur pulls Ben off the stool, his hand inside Ben’s jacket, fingers brushing the holster where a gun sits snug at his side. “Let’s go,” he breathes, unabashedly shameless.
Arthur pauses. Ben only grins at him.
Ben laughs, his mouth going to Arthur’s ear. “Rather fuck you.”
“Yeah,” Arthur chokes, and his heart racing. “Yeah.”
Dominic was going to fucking kill him.
tangentwithtanner
stormborns
