Eames walked into the Paris warehouse fully prepared to face Arthur’s wrath. He had even practiced the grin that pissed Arthur off the most and had it at the ready. Instead Arthur looked up from his computer, looked at Eames who was walking in behind Cobb and Saito, and relaxed.
Well, not obviously, but Eames knew Arthur and the slight slump of his shoulders might as well have been a full on sigh and melting into his chair.
“Arthur, it’s been too long,” Eames said.
“Ariadne,” Arthur said, gaining the attention of the brunette that was bent over a sketchbook. ”This is the client, Mr. Saito, the chemist Yusef, and Eames.” The last name barely escaped Arthur’s tense jaw. Eames was only held back from making a comment it by meeting Ariadne.
Dom pulled them all into a team meeting that answered the one question that had remained in his mind since Cobb had explained the situation on the plane other than how the hell they were going to do it.
After an hour and a half of listening to Dom talk in circles Saito left to go run his actual business. Dom left not long after to go gallivanting off fuck knew where. Yusef put on a pair of headphones and began setting up his makeshift lab and Ariadne went back to her sketches with earbuds blaring.
Arthur went to the kitchenette that was really just a coffee pot and a mini-fridge.
“Most people don’t consider me easy to find,” Eames said, coming up behind Arthur.
“Most people aren’t me,” was all he said, not even acknowledging that fact that Eames was standing close enough that Arthur must have been able to feel him.
“Why look for me at all? He doesn’t even know what he wants with a forger.”
Arthur turned and didn’t even seem to notice or care how close they were. “Why were you in Mombasa in the first place?”
The same reason I’m always in cities that they want you dead was something that Eames might have chanced before. He couldn’t do that anymore. “You know what I was doing there, Arthur. Or are you slipping?”
“Don’t play dumb with me if you don’t want me to do the same.” Without another word he slipped away and back to his desk.
Eames watched him go then left for Australia. No sense in hanging around.
He was in Australia for longer than he planned as tended to happen when he was forging an adult. A business relationship godfather was bound to have more than a few potholes. Turned out that it did and only some of them were useful.
By the time he was able to return to Paris it felt almost like a normal job. Then he actually walked back into the warehouse. It was late, usually the purview of Arthur and he fully expected him to be the only one there. He was the only one not there.
Ariadne was glaring at her sketchpad and was playing with a chess piece while Yusef and Cobb were huddled in the next room talking in hushed tones. No one noticed Eames slip in or out.
He considered continuing out, out of the city, out of the country, out of the whole job maybe back to Mombasa to finish what he started. Instead he went to find Arthur.
It wasn’t hard. He was in his hotel room as if it were normal for him to be working while siting with his legs outstretched and his back to a headboard. The Arthur that Eames had left behind liked a distinct line between work and off time. Eames had been his one exception to that rule. It had been a thrill to be the exception. Apparently that rule didn’t exist at all anymore.
Arthur looked up from his laptop. “Did you want something?”
Eames tossed him the flashdrive that Arthur caught one handed. “The research from their offices. Thought you might like to vet it before we meet up tomorrow.” Eames continued to wander aimlessly into the room. Arthur’s eyes never left him as he did.
“Thanks.”
“I expected to you to be out in the night life,” Eames said, coming to a stop at the window. Before-Arthur had loved Paris.
“Do you want me to say I hate Paris now?”
Eames turned around and looked at him. I want you to tell me what’s happening. “Do you think Saito can actually get the charges clear?” he asked instead.
Arthur sighed. “Why do you care?”
“I’ve been told I’m nosy.”
Arthur almost smiled at that. “He has the resources.”
“If he does will Cobb actually go?”
“What do you think?” It was obvious the question was meant to be biting but it fell short into desperate.
“I think that after everything he’s put those kids though he better.” Eames loved those kids almost as much as Arthur did.
Arthur did smile that time. “Maybe I’ll just kidnap them if he doesn’t.”
“You’d made a great stay at home dad.”
It was almost a laugh but then Arthur frowned and looked so tired like his frown was all he could manage. “How much is it going to take to get you to stay?”
“What?”
“I know you didn’t just bring me the research for fun. I know what you look like when you’re bailing so how much is it going to take for you to stay?” Arthur said it matter of fact and stared directly at Eames.
“Fuck you, Arthur. I’m not the one with a history of running away.” He was out the door before Arthur managed another word.
Arthur wasn’t one to try and fix things. Usually things that were broken were better off that way and he was better off moving on. The problem with that was that he so rarely applied it to where it was needed most. That was why he had chased Dom around the world more than once, why he was still trying to pull a job he didn’t think would work and why he was trying to be nice to Eames.
“Eames, I’m impressed.”
“Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated, Arthur.”
He wanted to hope that Eames was trying to be funny but they had known each other too well before to fool himself now. Still, it was the best peace offering he had right then. Maybe ever. He needed to learn to let go.
Once they were out of the meeting Ariadne asked him to go under with her to check the mazes and he managed not to look at Eames to see if he cared. Maybe he didn’t want to know.
In the first cityscape they stood on a street corner. Arthur broke the maze in less than five minutes. Ariadne cursed but before Arthur could actually explain where she had gone wrong a blonde in a cocktail dress and heals that were more weapon than shoe strode up to them. She flipped Ariadne’s hair as she passed and ran her nails down Arthur’s cheek.
“Eames,” he said as low and dangerous as he could manage. It was a new model and this one had Mal’s eyes and Arthur just wanted them to go away. “Stop it.
Jennifer the chemist’s laugh bled into Eames’s own and one blink to the next Eames was standing in front of him, callused hand on Arthur’s cheek.
“You wanted to know what a forger does,” Arthur said to Ariadne while staring at Eames. He clawed for the ability to look away but it was too much like Before.
Eames looked away first and back to Ariadne. “That’s what I do.”
“That’s amazing. How did you even know it was him?”
“Because Arthur’s projections can’t show affection,” Eames said at the same time that Arthur said, “None of my projections would wear a paisley cocktail dress.”
“I make it work.”
“With legs like hers you can make anything work,” Ariadne said, laughing.
Eames laughed easily with her. All of Arthur’s actual projections turned to stare. Ariadne went tense but Eames just relaxed into the attention. He probably even knew that the projections weren’t looking to hurt him, just trying to memorize his laugh.
The music started to play around them and slowly the dream started to fade.
Even as closely as they were working together it was days before Eames talked to him beyond a lunch order after the drea. “Arthur, check my forge?” Eames asked while Dom was off somewhere sulking and Ariadne and Yusef were working on memorizing his level. Arthur had told her to start early, genius or not Yusef didn’t work in the field and there was a lot riding on the fist level if the half-baked plan was going to work.
Arthur carefully didn’t look shocked or blush. So what if it had been Eames’s code for let’s have a private conversation or maybe just sex. That had been before. “Sure,” he said as he stood and went to the PASIV. Eames clocked them in for an hour of dreamtime and they went under.
The sound of waves came from in front of him and he took in the scene of the beachfront bar. His drink had four paper umbrellas a crazy straw, and was in a coconut. He was lounged in the shade of a palm tree and in his suit.
Browning came around the corner and stopped in front of Arthur.
“Less frown, more grimace. A touch fewer crinkles or just less deep. And you step is half a beat off,” Arthur said. He had been watching interviews and speeches by the two Fishers and Browning since getting the job and was only second to Eames in knowing them.
“I’m walking on sand, of course my step’s off,” Browning’s voice said.
“More gruff. He only recently stopped smoking. Two years.”
“You took it back up though.”
“Bad habits die hard,” Arthur said. Not even Dom had noticed he’d started smoking again and he’d been so damn careful to only smoke at night and outside his hotel. Fucking forgers.
“Yes, like letting Cobb call the shots even if it’s the wrong one.” It was still Browning’s voice and face that spoke. “Why did you let him find me?”
Arthur let out a careful breath and stood, the handgun materializing in his grip has he did. “Are you really going to be a child about this, Eames? We have a chemist who’s never worked in the field, an architect that three months ago didn’t know dreamshare existed, a tourist, and an extractor who couldn’t follow Ikea instructions. Are you really going to make me add my ex won’t put his job before his hurt feelings to that list?”
“Your ex just wants to know why he’s on this job.”
“Because I need an adult extractor and Cobb can’t even get his own head out of his ass. Happy?” Eames always knew just how to push at Arthur to get the answer to his questions.
One blink to the next and Eames was standing in front of him in Browning’s suit. When he spoke it was back to Eames’s voice too. “No. We’re still on this job.”
Arthur rolled his eyes. “You love it.”
“Yes. But I know you and there have only been two jobs you’ve worked that you didn’t like and they both went tits up. Yet you’re still here working this fucking job.”
Eames kept chipping away at Arthur and finally something cracked. For the first time in years he had to consciously think about holding the dream together. They might have been in Eames’s mind but the bartender and a few other beach goers were watching them now. His projections always were too sensitive to his emotions, especially when he needed real sleep. If got out of this stupid job he was going to fix that. For now he needed to deal with Eames. “I don’t want to die on a tarmac so I need you to do your job and part of Cobb’s so how much is it going to take to make you stay?”
Eames stood silent watching him for a long time. A red poker chip flipped between his fingers. A fake totem, one that had been Arthur’s when they met and Eames had stolen it out of his pocket. The music started to play and Arthur settled that he wasn’t getting an answer just as Eames spoke. “I don’t need your money, just promise it’s the last job with Cobb.”
It wasn’t a hard promise to make. He was already sick of looking at Cobb and had been for the three years of consecutive jobs. Maybe Arthur would just retire completely. “Fine. Last job.”
It was an impossible promise; one Arthur was sure to break. Still he found himself doubling his already maxed efforts thinking that maybe just this once he could save Arthur. Maybe Arthur would stay. If Eames had a real friend in anyone he could explain all of this to they would tell him to move on. As it was Yusef and he had only met a handful of times before he had brought Cobb to meet him and Eames had never been very good at nurturing friendships. Not outside of Mal and Arthur.
It started to feel like before. Not exactly, Mal was still dead, Dom still didn’t build , and there were new people everywhere Eames looked but so was Arthur. The bickering stayed but the bitterness faded and they worked together as smooth as they ever had.
“Specificity?”
“Specificity.”
Eames waited for Arthur to pull out a dictionary and prove it was a word but Cobb started talking again and they went back to work.
The next morning Eames found a folded up print out of the Dicitionary.com entry for specificity under a full and hot mug of coffee. Eames responded with sneaking a word of the day calendar into Arthur’s bag.
Almost normal.
“Arthur would love to be your lab rat,” he said as Arthur walked back from getting a fresh mug of coffee. Yusef’s brows shot up and Eames could see Ariadne look up from where she sat in the corner of his eye.
“What are you volunteering me for?” Arthur asked and came to stand next to him and in front of Yusef.
“I need to test the ability to still feel the kick,” Yusef explained.
Eames couldn’t help his grin as he said “You’re the biggest stick in the mud so your mind should be able to hold steady the easiest at three levels by yourself.”
Arthur looked more skeptical but just said, “Fine,” and went to go shut off his computer.
The first time Arthur’s arms flailed as he fell back and Eames laughed. Arthur glared up at him from where he was laying on the mattress used to catch him. “One was fine, two was shaky, three wouldn’t have held much longer.”
Yusef nodded and started to scribble in his notebook. He splashed around in the lab while Arthur set the chair back up. In a few minutes Arthur was hooked up again and being pushed over.
After twelve runs Arthur woke up halfway down the same way he had every time but as he did his hand flew to the small of his back with wild eyes. The gun that usually would have been there for Arthur to grasp at his back was now sitting next to Eames. They had agreed he wouldn’t need it just then. That didn’t mean anything for the backup around his ankle.
As Eames was making the split second debate about whether to shoot Arthur before he got off a shot his eyes caught on Eames and he hit the mattress. Arthur deflated against it as he started at Eames, recognition sparking back into his eyes as he did. Arthur called it a night before Yusef had finished the next breath.
Eames watched Arthur go before he turned back to Yuesf who looked a little confused. “Run it with Cobb next. Him and Mal used to study and work multilevel dream all the time.”
“Anyone but you, right?”
“When you have a mind as precious as mine you don’t run experiments on yourself,” Eames said as he backed out of the conversation.
“Better off running them on an actual guinea pig,” Eames could have sworn he mumbled. He left anyway. They had time to work out what was going on later. For the moment he needed to make sure Arthur hadn’t run off to wreck havoc because of a bad mix.
He expected to search for a few hours, when Arthur hid, he hid from everyone, he might have even thought about Eames’s flat. As it turned out he was waiting for Eames, disguised as smoking.
Eames took the cigarette.
“Go back inside,” Arthur said, taking out a new smoke and lighting it.
“What’s wrong with the compound?” Eames said.
“Nothing.”
Eames frowned. “36 dreams in two hours would fuck with anyone,” Eames said.
“I’m fine.”
Eames rolled his eyes and finished his cigarette. “Of course you are,” but stayed outside next to Arthur in silence.
After the dream, after inception, Eames didn’t look at Arthur. He glared at Yusef a bit who just innocently shrugged, Saito was making a call, Dom was zoned out, Ariadne was grinning her head off and Fisher was sending email after email. It worked.
No one said a word as they got off the plane and shuffled through different customs lines. He waited at the baggage claim until Arthur strolled up with his bag in hand and stacked it on the cart.
“Is that what you were waiting for?” Arthur asked.
“Thought we could grab a drink, unless you’ve got another job lined up.”
“Take me home, Mr. Eames.”
So Eames did.
An hour later Eames parked the rental in front of a tower condominium complex. Arthur turned and glared at him even as he smiled. “I didn’t mean my home.”
“You should have been more specific, darling,” Eames said, then climbed out of the car.
It had been a long time since he had been in Arthur’s condo in LA. It had been the closest thing to a true home for a long time, but that had been before . He wasn’t nervous exactly, if Arthur didn’t want him there he wouldn’t be but there was the not so small fact that while Eames was hoping to be with Arthur again and Arthur might have just wanted to lay down some of those pesky ground rules he loved.
Eames followed Arthur up and found that not much had changed in the flat except for the thick layer of dust on every surface. “Christ Arthur when was the last time you were home?” Eames asked, not expecting an answer.
“13 months on back to back jobs. Are you suddenly bothered by dust?” Arthur said and went to the cupboard and pulled out two mugs and stared to make coffee in his passive aggressive manor. Eames hadn’t known he was capable of missing that sight until he saw it.
“Not at all, pet.”
Arthur turned around with the bag of coffee still in his hand and he actually smiled. It made Eames brave.
He took a step forward and into Arthur’s space. Arthur turned around and back to the coffee.
He wasn’t looking at Eames when he said, “Why were you in Mombasa?”
Eames almost laughed. Of all the things in the world that Eames and Arthur needed to work out Mombasa was on the bottom of that list. “I thought you knew why.”
Arthur ran his fingers through his hair and turned around to face Eames again and lean against the kitchen counter. “I lied. I have no idea why you were there. I thought maybe you were there for Yusef since you introduced Dom to him but you didn’t seem to know him that well so why?” Arthur rambled.
“Because Cobal was there and Cobal was after you,” Eames said.
Arthur watched him carefully and Eames wanted to close the small step of a gap between them. He didn’t move though because Arthur had gotten the skittish look he always got when he had to deal with real emotions.
“You were taking Cobal on for me?”
“I’m glad I could do inception instead, certainly easier.”
Arthur was the one to close the gap between them and kissed him.
Eames didn’t waste time. He kissed back in the way he had wanted to for months. He slid his hands over Arthur’s sides as they kissed. It was desperate and oh so familiar and stirred something deep in his chest that tore him right in half.
He stepped forward until they stumbled back into the bedroom. Arthur turned them around and pushed Eames down onto the bad and straddled his hips. Then he stopped dead in his tracks, and stared down at Eames.
“Arthur?” Eames asked, his hands had paused working on the middle button of the white button down shirt, having already gotten past the vest.
Arthur didn’t say anything just smiled at him wide and bright before he dove in for another kiss and started to work at Eames’s shirt and it just felt so damnably good. Arthur’s hands felt good. His weight felt good. His smile against Eames’s mouth felt good. It all made Eames embarrassingly desperate.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t had sex since Tokyo. He had had an awful lot of sex, more than even he thought was probably reasonable. None of them had been Arthur though and all of them had left him feeling more hallow than before and ready to find the next one to warm his bed.
Now Arthur fucked into him with long slow thrusts, running his hands all over him like he didn’t already know every scar and tattoo that covered his body. He was gentle and seemed to enjoy dragging it out until Eames let himself beg for more, please, Arthur, I need you. That broke his resolve and started to fuck Eames properly and grip his fingerprints into his hips until Eames wrapped a hand around himself because he just couldn’t stand it. He came with a chocked off “Arthur” with said man not far behind.
He drifted off to sleep with the thought that even if Arthur kicked him out tomorrow at least he got to sleep on his favorite pillow one last time.
It didn’t take long before the sound of Eames’s breathing evened out into genuine sleep. Arthur rolled over onto his side to watch Eames’s face as it relaxed in the way it only did in the dreamless sleep.
It had been too long since he had the opportunity to do so and even when he had been allowed to see Eames whenever he wanted he hadn’t. Arthur had never been so angry with himself as in that moment as he remembered the countless nights he fell asleep first thinking he would have all the time in the world to see the most beautiful man later. Then he had went and fucked that up.
Careful to keep his touch feather light he traced up Eames’s arm and brushed his fingers though his hair. Eames didn’t move and Arthur couldn’t take the knot that had started to form in the center of his chest anymore.
He got up and went back to the living room and looked out over the city in a way that made him feel melodramatic, a habit he had picked up from Mal who loved few things as much as a city skyline at night, a setting sun was close enough.
When Eames woke Arthur knew he’d be out the door in no time at all. Eames wasn’t a big forgiver and Arthur had done more than enough that needed forgiveness over the past few years, most of all Tokyo.
They had been in the city on two different jobs, one of which was going to absolute shit and it had been Arthur’s and Eames had tried to save him from it. Arthur hadn’t taken it well he had snapped and yelled. “I can’t leave him, Eames!”
“You can’t sacrifice yourself for him,” Eames had shot back and taken Arthur’s hands the way he used to when he really wanted Arthur to pay attention.
Arthur had snatched his hands away. “I have to.”
“You don’t.”
“You don’t understand. It’s loyalty, Eames.”
The words hadn’t even been all the way out of his mouth when he had seen the mistake. Every trace of emotion had bleed off of Eames face before he said, “You’re right. Guess I shouldn’t be dating should I? Goodbye Arthur.” When he left he hadn’t even slammed the door.
Arthur hadn’t seen him until he strolled into the warehouse in Paris like colleagues were all they had ever been.
He had known Eames had been following behind them, interfering in one way or another, even of the successful jobs. Arthur had never had the time to dig into what it was he had been doing.
Now he was sleeping in Arthur’s bed for probably the last time and Arthur couldn’t even enjoy it. He was cared and now that he didn’t have to spend every second thinking about how to get Dom back to the kids he had to face it.
He had to face that Eames was going to leave again, rightfully. It made his throat close up to think about it. Instead he didn’t think about it. Breath after careful breath he steadied himself and turned around to actually enjoy his list night with the man he loved.
Eames was standing in the doorway instead, a sheet wrapped around his waist and a smile that dropped in the same instant Arthur turned around.
“Are you crying?”
Arthur scoffed. “Of course not.” But his voice cracked and gave him away.
That made Eames smile. “Then how about you come back to bed?”
Arthur didn’t trust himself to speak so he just nodded and followed Eames back into the bedroom.
Arthur climbed in first and turned on his side to face Eames who tucked himself in next to him and smiled. “How long do you think we have before Ariadne is looking for another job?” Eames asked.
Arthur laughed and for a second it was all okay. Eames’s intention without a doubt. “A few hours if we’re lucky.”
Eames laughed with him but slowly Arthur could feel his smile getting more strained and Eames took his hand. “I’m sorry,” he said before Eames tried to make another joke. “For Tokyo.”
“Arthur, don’t talk about Tokyo right now. You’ll ruin the moment,” Eames let his eyes shut and Arthur kept staring at him, maybe hoping just a little.
Arthur opened his mouth again only for Eames to cut him off. “I’m serious, Arthur,” he said in a tone that was anything but serious. “We just pulled off inception, Cobb is out of dreamshare, and I was just thoroughly fucked by the man I love. Don’t ruin this for me.”
Arthur couldn’t help his smile when Eames opened one eyes and smiled.
“You could stick around for a while.”
Eames’s smile could have powered whole cities; maybe some of the smaller countries. “Just try to get rid of me.”
“I’m good at that.”
Eames groaned and wrapped Arthur in close to his chest. “Stop ruining it. Go to sleep.”